Post by HoM on Apr 11, 2016 8:27:03 GMT -5
Previously...
The Outsiders are on the outs with the superhero community after a catastrophic event involving the team took out a large part of Las Vegas. They're truly on the outside looking in, but with certain members being offered membership into the Justice League, and certain opportunities being made available to others, could it be that the luck of Batwoman's ragtag team of heroes is about to change?
Over the last year or so, the Justice League faced off against the forces of Kobra led by the mysterious Lord Naga. After their latest battle, two Jason Burrs stood revealed-- one the villainous mastermind behind the death cult, the other a man dedicated to peace. Who is the real Jason Burr? And is the threat of Kobra finally done? Absolutely not...
JUSTICE LEAGUE PRESENTS...
BATWOMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS
"Meanwhile, The World Keeps Turning"
HoM / ARTTEACH / BOWERS
“Why do you keep doing this to yourself, girl?”
Barbara Gordon, aka the masked vigilante Batwoman, also known as the leader of the ragtag group of heroes calling themselves the Outsiders, stood in the middle of an abandoned laboratory complex based within the Arctic tundra. She wore a winter-ready version of her black and red costume, thicker than her usual one, insulated from the cold, but her ears still burnt in that way that only ears could in the cold.
Multiple stories high with fully-equipped labs on each floor, this place had enough technology available to do wonders, but she knew from the reports she'd gathered that the technology had only been used for horrors. Apparent vivisection. Merciless human experimentation.
Batwoman glanced around the secret lair of Kobra, based in the highest reaches of the world, and shivered, half out of the cold and half through the knowledge of what happened here months ago. This was a place of atrocity and murder. It had taken a global effort to lance the boil this place was on the skin of the earth, and even then, it looked like Kobra would keep coming back to haunt them, like Ollie's chilli on an off day.
"How did I end up here?" asked Batwoman, and then she began to remember.
--
The last time she'd heard from him, he'd been very straightforward: “The Justice League will be watching you now, Barbara. I’ll be watching you*.”
*Back in Batwoman & the Outsiders #1
But now, Bruce Wayne, out of costume, stood in her apartment, dressed as casually as a man of his means could manage-- meaning a two-piece suit instead of a three-- leaned casually against the faux fireplace, playing with a thin USB stick as Barbara made the tea.
"I can't say this isn't a surprise," said Barbara. She walked over to Bruce and offered him a cup. He sniffed it then took a sip. "It's ginger tea. Apparently it helps with muscle pain after a night's patrol." She shrugged. "Works for me."
"Delightful," said Bruce. "How have you been?"
"Surviving. After... everything... the team has been struggling. But I hear you've invited Zee into the fold?" she smiled and took a sip from her cup. "What, you're here to invite me into the League too?"
"You wouldn't say yes," said Bruce. "As much as I would want you to."
"You're right. I have my priorities. The team. The city. The mission, as you'd say."
"The mission," repeated Bruce. There was a smile on his lips. "I miss the simplicity of Gotham sometimes, what with the larger context we're operating within now."
"Batman, Incorporated. Justice League. Anything else you're working on that I'm not aware of?" said Barbara.
"That's why I'm here. A side project. Something I could use a second opinion on."
"And I'm that second opinion?"
"You're one of the best detectives I know. I need brains. Yours are top notch."
"Well, that's a compliment and a half, considering those you run with over on the island. Why not go to one of them?"
"We're all too close to it, and I need someone who isn't... what's the word... 'compromised'."
"Intriguing. What's the project?"
Bruce handed Barbara the USB stick. "Encrypted. For your eyes only. Every single piece of information we have on Kobra. The Burr brothers. Every iteration of the doomsday cult, going back thousands of years. There are so many questions we have yet to answer, and I would like you to help resolve this."
"The Birds did legwork on this, didn't they?"
"Jonni Thunder, yes. She's available for consultation, if you need it. I put her on retainer. But I'd like you to take the lead on this. This situation started when the Global Peace Agency took the lead on removing Jeffrey Burr from power as the leader of Kobra. It's when Jason was discovered after being long thought dead. It's when Lord Naga emerged, and when Kobra accelerated their plans for Armageddon. Unpick the case. Let me know what you find."
"Reasonable enough. And what do I get out of this?" The question was asked with a cheeky smile.
Bruce's stern expression didn't change. "We'll stop poaching your best people for the Justice League." There was a long moment of silence between them, and then he allowed himself a smile. "Barbara... after the carnage that hit Las Vegas, I admit, we've been wary of your team. Part of bringing Zatanna into the fold is to... keep an eye on her. But you did good work. The best kind of work through the hardest of situations. The Justice League operates on a different level that I'm sometimes uncomfortable with. We go beyond the street, where the most important work has to be done, but you never left. Sometimes I miss that simplicity, like I said."
"Nothing about our lives these past few years has been simple," said Barbara. "I'd take space gods and inter-dimensional imps over the crap the Outsiders have to deal with day-in-day-out."
"And maybe one day you'll accept an offer to join the Justice League. To ground them. But where you are now, and your commitment, it's for the best. Not only for your team, and for you, but also for the people you're protecting. I'm... well, I'm proud of you. And I don't say that enough."
"I..." Barbara trailed off, not knowing what to say. "Thank you. I can't... I can't begin to tell you..." She stopped herself, and looked at the USB. "I'll let you know what I find. I'm all right to bring my team in on this if necessary."
Bruce nodded. "This is yours to do with what you will, to utilize whatever assets you have available to you." He placed his teacup on the coaster atop the table by his leg. "Keep me informed."
"I will," said Barbara.
--
Batwoman smiled. "Oh, now I remember."
This facility was the headquarters of the doomsday cult Kobra, back when it was under the command of Jeffrey Burr, the mad twin brother of the seemingly benevolent Jason, who he had held prisoner for the majority of his life. There were scorch marks on most surfaces where an all-out ground war had taken place between the forces of the cult and the international intelligence agencies who had come together to put an end to their threat.
"Let's get started then, shall we?" As Batwoman descended into the lower levels of the abandoned Kobra headquarters, that familiar tingle moved down her neck. That old Gotham shiver that came with the abominable and the strange. This place was cursed by the events of the past, a haunted house that would need exorcising.
Barbara knew a few ways you could do such a thing in these cases. Fire. Lots of fire, and blissful, forced ignorance.
No one should ever come to this place again.
Batwoman took the small voice recorder from her belt and held it out in front of her. She then pressed 'play' and listened to part of the Global Peace Agency mission briefing.
"Intel came in from GPA operative 12 that he had been inducted into the upper echelons of the Kobra cult. The psychic and mystical safeguards put in place to protect his identity had held, but he was nervous, especially after word got to the other newly-ascended Nagas that King Kobra had taken the fake Kobra off the board*. Jeffrey Burr was clearing shop. Making sure there were no pretenders to the throne. Once his powerbase was solidified, who knew what he was capable of--"
*Back in Secret Society of Super Villains #3
Batwoman paused the recording. “And GPA operative 12 died soon after filing his report, his intestines transformed into snakes by supernatural means.”
Batman has provided her with every piece of intel gathered during the first, modern, all-hands-on-deck operation to take down Kobra. She had found her way down into the dungeons, where the worst atrocities took place under Jeffrey Burr's rule.
Barbara fast forwarded the recording, then hit 'play'.
"--We found Jason Burr in the science dungeons, held at gunpoint by Jeffrey. Jason was... messed up. I know that's not the best way to put it, not the most PC term for what happened to him, but that's the first thing that came to mind when I saw him. Completely messed up. There was scarification all over his skin, and that, combined with the mutagenic experiments Jeffrey had performed, left him looking like, I kid you not, a lizard man. "
"Stay on track, soldier. " James Harper's voice landed sharply, and Barbara heard the interviewee shifting in his seat. She'd not met the Guardian, not one-on-one (do superhero team-ups count anymore?), but she'd heard stories about him. "What happened next? "
"Jeffrey was ranting, going completely off on one, talking about Kali Yuga, the coming age of chaos. Our bafflers were working on overdrive. We all know about the rumours his voice can induce fervent loyalty. Thankfully, the GPA tech held out. We didn't take the shot, as you know. We wanted to take him alive-- that was the mission objective-- but Jeffrey didn't count on his brother hating his guts more than anybody. I guess Jeff didn't expect his brother to yank his sidearm out from under him and shoot him through the face. "
Batwoman remembered the autopsy photos. Entry wound-- under the chin, exit wound-- the entirety of his head. The top of his skull was gone, just fragments and charcoal. When she reviewed the helmet camera footage from the attack, she saw Jason do what he did and was amazed.
Firstly, Jason unclipped the holster cover. He did that in front of the soldiers, and they didn't even spot it. Just a minor bit of prestidigitation-- Zatanna would be proud of her-- and then back to being the helpless hostage. Then, two minutes later, when it was clear Jeffrey wasn't going to be talked down, Jason whipped the weapon out and arched it up, taking his brother out and leaving him the lone survivor.
Batwoman continued to listen to the recording. "Jason just collapsed. We thought he'd been hit, but the man had been through hell. Absolute hell. We cleared Jeffrey's body-- I gotta say, I was scared he was wired to blow-- and then the medic checked on Jason. He went into shock. Just kept saying 'thank you, thank you', again and again, until they sedated him. We airlifted him out. Where is he now? "
"Classified, " said the Guardian. "End debrief interview D-953. "
Barbara ran the details through her head. Team D were one of the three ground teams. The best Special Forces team known to man. They went in to secure any esoteric weaponry stored in the base, but their directives changed when Jeffrey Burr-- target alpha-- ran into them. A brief firefight ensued, and they chased him down to the science dungeon, where they found him with the tortured Jason. Nine hundred and fifty-three debrief interviews? Talk about stamina.
There were scorch marks on the ceiling where the weapon salvo landed after it went through Burr's head. They hadn't even bothered to scrub the blood clean.
“Why did Jeffrey come down here when all hell was breaking loose?” pondered Batwoman.
Barbara cast her mind back to the personnel files and structural arrangements of the operation, then skipped through the recordings until she reached a file she’d find useful. Thank God for that photographic memory of hers, else she’d have been skipping through the files forever…
“Give me the operational structure. Cliff notes. I’ve got to find my impact vest. ”
Barbara recognised the speaker as Bill Nodell, one of the GPA’s primary field agents, and an expat of the Department of Extranormal Operations. Whenever there was a crisis, you could expect Nodell and his partner, Travis Clevenger to be on the scene, throwing disparaging comments at whoever was close by like a real-life Statler and Waldorf.
Clevenger responded. “Team A? Team A is shock and awe. We’ve got Fang Zhifu, aka August General in Iron, along with Ghost Fox Killer-- no known alias-- both members of the Great Ten and representing the Chinese intelligence contingent. ”
What did Barbara know of Shi Hao Xia-- the Great Ten? Bruce once said they were ‘hampered by bureaucracy’, that every decision must go through the government before the team could act. The team were referred to as ‘super-functionaries’, an issue with the communist Chinese ethos rejecting the word 'heroes' for a humbler one. Based inside a secret complex within China's Great Wall. Ten team members. An unlimited supply of metahumans pumped out through some unknown means to man the ramparts, as it were.
In a previous life, back before iron plates became skin and every day a rusted, living nightmare, the August General in Iron was a member of one of China’s elite ‘Xeno-Teams’-- elite spec ops units trained for encounters with extra-terrestrials.
When his unit investigated an alien craft that crashed in a remote province, they were all but wiped out by some kind of pathogen that reverted their bodies to primordial slime. Fang barely survived this encounter, but the special treatments he was given not only prevented his death, but also caused his skin to transform into iron-like plates, an evolutionary response to the pathogen that nearly killed him. That came with super strength and endurance, but the agony of his flesh… Barbara couldn’t begin to imagine.
Ghost Fox Killer, on the other hand, was a totally different mystery. According to Wonder Woman, she was a female emissary from a hidden colony of ‘Ghost Fox Women’ that once had dealings with Themyscira.
As their ambassador, Ghost Fox’s sole responsibility is to kill evil men and then exert control over their ghosts. Diana said that if Ghost Fox Killer does not kill off evil men for her colony, their society will fall, as the colossal engines that power their civilisation run on the souls of the evil dead.
“Spooky,” said Batwoman.
“Of course the Guardian is involved. Harper will be acting as central operative of the Global Peace Agency and overall lead man for the operation. Superman was invited into the operation. Sullivan’s decision. ”
The Guardian. What was there left to say about him? A former police officer whose unwavering belief in right and wrong bought him to the attention of the secret super soldier program the US government ran during World War Two. They transformed him into a living weapon, and he’d been acting as an operative for the US military ever since.
Harper had had his ups and down with the higher ups-- his moral core sometimes coming into conflict with the more questionable directions that certain administrations have taken, or tried to make him take-- but he was the premier soldier. No one better to lead an operation like this. Or any operation. Ever.
Superman was on the mission as a favour to the GPA’s Director, Chloe Sullivan, but also as insurance. No one knew what was going on inside the Kobra complex after GPA operative 12 died. Good to have a heavy hitter onside.
“Who’s that Russian broad? ”
"Nikolija Kamarov, Russia's representative. They call her Winter and according to her file, she is one scary operator, Spetnaz-trained and according to Harper, the best kept superhero secret the world has ever known. A cadre of Rocket Reds came with her for aerial support. The Russians weren't going to let their asset go in there without back-up that they trusted implicitly. "
“I found my vest, ” said Nodell. Barbara ended the recording.
When Batwoman first heard about Winter, she thought that it must be a man. Russia’s exclusive super-operative, with a list of qualifications longer than Barbara’s arm. Former Olympic athlete. Former Spetnaz operative. She now flew the flag for Russia during crises that hit the republic, and apparently she had the ear of their president. Harper’s annotated notes on the operation included a circle around her name, which was something Barbara didn’t see with anyone else.
Rocket Reds, of course, were walking, talking tanks. Flight-enabled, featuring a cadre of metahuman suppressant weaponry and strong enough to take a punch from most enhanced operators. Each suit was piloted by a true patriot. Barbara had met a few in her time. Good, honest men and women.
“But why would Jeffrey come down here? ” Barbara asked herself again.
The cell that Jeffrey kept Jason inside was empty and that mapped to the reports Barbara had read. Jason Burr was kept in a room until he was needed for experiments and torture, and then he was taken back to his room.
Barbara looked around slowly. Something didn’t track.
Then there was a sound--
Like a slither--
Like a hiss--
And when Batwoman turned, the large, snake-like horror that had somehow made its way down into the pit with her bared its fangs. “Faaaaaaithhhhhhhhhh. ”
“Of course this wasn’t going to be straightforward,” said Batwoman. “C’mon then.”
The horrific reptilian hybrid equal parts hissed and shrieked as it dove for Batwoman, but Barbara was having none of it. The thing was built like a brick wall, thick muscles reminding her of Blockbuster. His skin was covered in scales, though patches were missing and she could see exposed muscle underneath. Its mouth was full of fangs and a forked tongue licked out as it made aggressive noises in her direction.
Batwoman was having none of that. She feigned left, drew the creature in and then went in the opposite direction of the feint. The creature barrelled into the wall behind her, and she swung her heel into the base of its spine, causing it to cry out in pain. It spun around, rage blazing in its eyes and slashed toward her abdomen, but she was gone, moving with the trained grace of a Gotham-born crime fighter.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” said Barbara. “But I will if it means putting you down.”
“Praissssse Kobrrrraaa,” hissed the creature.
Barbara grimaced. Okay, going the Batman route didn’t work. Time for the Batwoman method. She grabbed the creature by the ears and somersaulted over its head. Her momentum wouldn’t be enough to flip the thing heel-over-head, but it cried out as the muscles in its back wrenched and its head exploded with pain as its thin ears were mangled. It swiped again, wildly, but the pain caused by Batwoman’s attack gave her the time to draw a syringe from her belt and bolt it into her grapnel gun. She levelled it at the creature’s exposed neck and fired, embedding enough sedative into its jugular to put down a dinosaur. It was unfortunate that she knew how much sedative that took, but hers was a life fantastical, and it came with the territory.
After a few more moments of pathetic flailing, the reptilian creature fell down, leaving Batwoman alone in the returned silence of the Kobra outpost.
“So, not so abandoned,” said Batwoman. She wondered how many more of these things there were roaming the halls, and she measured that expectation with the knowledge of how much sedative she still had on her-- not much. “Weren’t picked up on my preliminary infrared scans…” she mused. “Cold-blooded, then.”
Best make this quick, she thought. Her attention back on the events that brought her there, she resumed her thinking about the cell. Jeffrey Burr, the king of Kobra, knew that a joint taskforce of military and superhuman might was descending upon this place. Instead of trying to escape, he came down here to kill his brother.
“Unless…” started Batwoman. She examined the floor. There were no grooves on the floor to suggest a secret door. No mechanism hidden in the wall that she could detect. “This isn’t a cell…”
Batwoman took a sample of the reptilian creature’s blood and an imprint of its hand. First, she injected the blood into a compartment on her wrist that would begin complete genetic analysis of the sample. Secondly, she copied the handprint onto her smart-glove, the surface of the material affecting that of the creature’s own hide, the porousness of the invention allowing slight traces of the creature’s genetic material to seep through. She began to carefully move her hand across the room, searching, probing, until there was a slight click when her hand found something-- a sensor?
“Open sesame,” said Batwoman. The wall began to dissolve in a beam of green light. There wasn’t a secret door-- there was a trans-dimensional gateway. Accessible only to those with the right genetic signature. How could anyone expect that to be lurking in a cell? She took a small, flat piece of metal from the back of her utility belt and pressed a button, causing the flat metal to expand into a sphere. She smiled at the technology, something she'd come up with after a conversation with Michael Holt, the Justice Society of America's Mr Terrific, and rolled the sphere through the trans-dimension gateway. Immediately, atmospheric and environment readings fed into her cowl computer, and she could see that wherever the portal led... was breathable, was human, was somewhere on Earth...
"Right. Okay."
Batwoman sent a data burst to the Justice League satellite and then considered her options. She could step through. She could journey further into the mystery and follow it down whatever rabbit hole Kobra had engineered. Or she could wait, call in the Justice League, and let them take over. But what if it was nothing? What if she was about to walk into some trap, or some warehouse full of knockoff designer gear? This could be another public relations nightmare waiting to happen, and she wasn’t going to be the one to inflict that on the world’s greatest superheroes.
“Best do what I’m told,” said Batwoman. “And call in help.”
LAS VEGAS:
“The thing is, it’s not about being funny ha-ha, it’s never been about that,” said the man at the bar, “it’s more like… well, it’s absurd. It’s stream of consciousness. It’s about whatever comes into your head and funny be damned. Luckily, I’m freaking hilarious, so things never go ass-ways.”
“I didn’t ask,” said the bartender. “You wan’ another drink?”
“Like it’ll make any difference,” sighed Eel O’Brien. “I miss the good old days, pal. Back when you could--” A small device on Eel’s belt began to buzz. “Hey hey hey, what’s going on down here then?” He winked at the bartender. “It’s not what you think.”
“I think you’ve still got a buzzer, pal. That’s not even old school.”
“It’s not a buzzer,” said Eel. “It’s time to get the band back together.”
“Sure,” said the bartender, “Gonna pay your tab first?”
A few blocks across, in an apartment high above the city, a black-haired woman opened her handbag to find an identical communication device buzzing away, and she smiled as she recognised the reason behind its activation. She activated the lever that opened the secret room in her apartment and grabbed her costume, making sure to check that her quiver was full of crossbow bolts.
GOTHAM CITY:
“Kate? Your thing is buzzing.”
“What? Are you sure it’s not your--”
“No, no, I know what sound that makes.”
Kate Spencer rolled her eyes and wandered into her bedroom. The move to Gotham City had been a relatively easy one to make considering her new role in the DA’s office, and it went all the easier thanks to the presence of her girlfriend, Grace Choi. That said, Ramsey was having trouble adjusting, especially considering the events of the last year or so. The less they dwelt on that the better, but still, it had to be addressed.
“Oh, wait, it is my thing,” said Grace. “My Outsider comms. I thought we were done.”
Kate checked her underwear drawer, and sure enough the communication unit she’d used back in her days as an Outsider was buzzing away. “Yeah. Guess we aren’t.”
LOS ANGELES:
“Buddy, your Outsiders buzzer-badge-thing is going off. I thought you threw it away,” said Ellen. “Oh, wait.”
“Yeah, I can’t throw anything away,” said Buddy. “Huh. Not often you get the call from Batwoman.”
“You’ve only been on that team for five minutes,” said Ellen. “From the Justice League to this… bit of a backwards move.”
“Justice League work meant I was away from you and the kids more than I liked. Outsiders work is infrequent, especially recently. I thought the team had ran its course, but this… well, guess I better find my goggles.”
Ellen held her husband’s protective goggles on the end of her finger and smiled. “Just be sure to come back in one piece.”
“As you wish,” said Buddy, kissing his wife on the cheek.
THE ARCTIC:
“I hope that worked,” said Batwoman, pocketing her communication device. She considered the shimmering gateway and took a breath.
“I hope you’re not planning on going through there alone,” said Huntress, entering the cell behind her. “Else I wasted all that time digging out my costume.”
Batwoman’s eyes opened wide and she grinned. “You made it.”
“You called, I came,” said Huntress. “Been a while. Glad to see we can still access the Justice League’s teleportation circuits when we need to.”
“Well look who it is,” said Grace Choi, entering the room followed by the Manhunter. “Like a greatest hits collection.”
Batwoman felt something catch in her throat. It had been a while since the Outsiders had gathered, and to see her friends coming to her aid when she needed it meant the world to her. Behind Manhunter appeared Animal Man, and next to him was Plastic Man.
But who hadn’t come when she called? Black Canary was off gallivanting across the world with Green Arrow, she knew that. Where was Red Tornado? Black Condor? Even the Phantom Stranger and Nightwing had their own Outsiders comms.
Hell, anyone who was ever an Outsider had a comm, the likes of Rose Psychic, Zatanna, but had they all grown so distant that when Batwoman called, some didn’t answer? Maybe their lives had gone in different directions, maybe they’d let their communication units’ batteries die. Who knew?
“Let me catch you up,” said Batwoman. “I’ve been tasked to dig into this whole Kobra mess.”
“Who by?” asked Manhunter.
Batwoman smiled and stuck her fingers up above her ears. “Who do you think?”
“We’re in the Justice League’s good books now?” asked Grace.
“We’re here to do a job,” said Huntress. “I say we follow BW’s lead and worry about the rest later.”
“I was just asking…” said Grace.
“I’ve uncovered this portal--” Batwoman gestured to the glistening doorway behind her. “And I’m going through. I’ve been told to utilise whatever assets I deem fit, and the way I see it, you’re the best guys I’ve ever known. So I’m about to step through into the unknown, and if you’ll--”
“Wait up,” said one final voice. Batwoman turned and Red Tornado stood next to Black Canary, who cracked her knuckles. “You didn’t think we’d let you go into the impossible by yourself?”
“You took your time, Canary,” said Huntress, embracing the fishnet-clad heroine. “Didn’t think you were going to show.”
“I was hip deep in someone. Something,” said Black Canary with a wink. “But hey, you’re my family, guys. Where you go I go, trouble be damned.”
Red Tornado shrugged. “I was asleep. I apologise.”
“You sleep now?” said Plastic Man. “Didn’t think the tin man had it in him.”
“I’ve been upgrading my personality algorithm. Sleep also seemed appropriate,” said Tornado. “So, we’re to step through that, to whoever knows where?”
“Correct,” said Batwoman. “You ready?”
“Why aren’t we through there already?” asked Black Canary. "What’s the play?”
“Bats wants us to play Challengers of the Unknown,” said Plastic Man, his body shifting into an approximation of one of the members of the titular science adventure team, hands clenched into fists and planted firmly onto hips. “Journey into mystery, knock on death’s door, do what we need to do and come out on the other side smelling like roses!”
Batwoman simply smiled. “Something like that.”
The Outsiders stood in front of the portal as the Red Tornado leaned through it, his computer brain best equipped to analyse the environment they were about to walk in. He leaned back, looked over to Batwoman and nodded. “It’s safe. No life signs within a hundred metre radius.”
“Not so mysterious,” said Black Canary, casting an eye at her ex-boyfriend, Plastic Man, as he reverted back to his usual form. “How’s tricks, Plas?”
“Boring,” said Plastic Man. “But I’m sure Bats is about to shake all that up, amiright?”
Huntress laughed and shook her head. “Not to be the pessimist, but to go back a step-- we’re about to go into the great unknown… because whatever’s beyond the range of Reddy’s scans is going to be waiting for us with open mouths, right? I’m all for levity, but like Canary said, what’s the play?”
Grace Choi stood next to her girlfriend, Manhunter, as the latter flexed her fingers around the staff she used to blast opponents with an electrical charge. They’d not been in their costumes for a while, not since the Outsiders and Las Vegas went through hell over a year ago. “You good?” asked Grace.
“My costume doesn’t fit anymore,” said Manhunter. Kate Spencer had moved to Gotham City with her son, and Grace had accepted the invitation to come with her. She’d been so focused on her new role as Assistant District Attorney-- a thankless task in Gotham-- that she had been concerned her relationship with Grace would flag, but Grace had always been there, no matter what, and it had been a relief.
“I told you that job was making you waste away,” said Grace, squeezing her girlfriend’s shoulder.
“Ah, what do you expect,” said Manhunter. “Gotham City and all.”
Batwoman cleared her throat, not out of nervousness, but due to the fact she hadn’t seen her friends for so long and yet when she called they came. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but the end result put a lump squarely in her throat.
“We go through that portal and we find out what’s on the other side. If there’s something bad… well, we deal with it.”
“Like we used to,” said Huntress.
“Like we used to,” repeated Batwoman with a smile. “So, Reddy, if you’ll do the honours?”
“It would be my pleasure,” said Red Tornado. “Like the good old days.”
The android stepped through the portal, followed by Grace. It was their standard procedure-- send the indestructible ones through first. Ten seconds later, Grace’s hand appeared-- a thumbs up-- and the others followed them through.
The team materialised inside what should have been an open air soccer stadium, the massive extending roof sealed shut and the air below hanging with a solid chill. “Where the hell are we?” asked Huntress. “…Excuse my language.”
“The air is stale,” said Tornado. “Uncirculated. There’s a pressure down here too. I think we are underground.”
“Underground? That’s crazy,” said Grace. “And what’s that say?” She pointed at the stands, where slogans were written in a vaguely Eastern European language.
Red Tornado’s eyes flashed as he scanned through his database. “It’s an East Slavic language, similar to Russian. Naliivan, the predominant dialect spoken in Naliiva.”
“I know that name,” said Black Canary. “The dictator who ruled the place with an iron fist-- Marshall Kafka-- went crazy, launched some kind of biochemical attack on his own people-- millions died. Afterwards it got sealed off by some secret society who established it as a safe haven for the super bad. They called it a ghost city. Couldn’t get in unless you were a ghost too.”
Batwoman wandered over to one of the tunnels nearby and checked out the graffiti across the walls. “Naliiva is where Kobra was taken down by the Justice League*. I think we just found a backdoor.”
*Back in Justice League V2 #7
“Weird,” said Manhunter. “This place is haunted by what happened. You can feel it.”
“All those people who died,” said Huntress. “I remember reading about it-- tens of millions, right?”
“And then super villains used this place to lay low when the heat was on,” said Batwoman. “But why is there a--”
Red Tornado held his hand up suddenly as he stared off into the distance. “There’s something here.”
“Something else other than this really creepy stadium that’s underground?” asked Grace.
“Dimensional shift,” said Red Tornado. He took ten steps forward and vanished from sight, then stepped backwards, a distortion of space rippling out as he disappeared and reappeared. “There are portals all over this place.” He gestured across the field. “Goal line, penalty line, half line, centre circle. Each is a different frequency of dimensional shift. Same on the other side.”
“Stay close,” said Batwoman, instinctively.
“Don’t have to tell us twice,” said Black Canary.
The team drew closer together, while Batwoman approached Red Tornado as he scanned the area.
“They’re not DNA locked, like the one in the Arctic,” asked Batwoman. “They must think that if you make it this far, you’re one of theirs.”
“So what do we do? We’re under a city where millions died, portals everywhere, a safe haven for the nasty, and we’re hunting a mystery,” said Manhunter. “Lots of potential booby traps and not much to go on.”
Black Canary squinted and could see the ripples in the air where Tornado had stepped through the portal. “Have any of those other portals been used recently?”
“How can we tell?” asked Grace. “Oh, you using your ninja skills and seeing something we can’t?”
“The ripple is hanging in the air, but I can’t see it in any of the others,” said Black Canary. “But maybe Reddy can?”
“Goal line,” said Tornado, pointing on the far end of the pitch. “The ripple is barely visible on even my sensors, but visible none the less.”
“Down the rabbit hole,” said Black Canary. “Bats, what do you think?”
“We’ve come this far,” said Batwoman. “What if this place is some network for the super bads, like you said, and we just missed one? I’m not going to let that stand.” She gestured toward Reddy. “Shall we?”
The Outsiders followed Red Tornado as he led them down a safe path down the soccer field and once they reached the active portal, Batwoman sent one of her sensor spheres through. When the results came back safe, Red Tornado leaned his head through to follow up.
“Everything looks fine. It’s dark,” said Red Tornado. “I’ll go through.”
“We’ll go through,” said Grace, patting him on the shoulder. The duo stepped through the portal and the air rippled in the stadium, and five seconds later… no wave came from Grave.
“Huh, that’s weird,” said Huntress.
“Weird? Something’s wrong,” said Manhunter, after ten seconds. “They should have--”
“Let’s go,” said Black Canary. Batwoman agreed and the team stepped through into the unknown.
Red Tornado was in pieces at their feet. Grace Choi was laying on the floor next to his head and torso. Standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by the debris, was a man in a stone mask, his emerald cape covered in blood, his armour covered in scratches and gouges.
“Hello, heroes. You shouldn’t have come here tonight,” said Lord Naga, the leader of the Kobra cult, the man everyone thought was incarcerated for life at the Slab before this moment. “But now that you’re here, shall we talk?” He cracked his knuckles. “Or are we going to do the usual dance? I’m surprised it took so long for your kind to find me,” he stood behind the body of Grace Choi and the shredded remains of Red Tornado. “I mean, I would have thought I’d be public enemy number one, even if there are already two of me in custody*.”
*As of Justice League #44
Black Canary breathed in sharply, stepped in front of her teammates, and unleashed her sonic scream. Naga stood his ground, even as his cape was torn to shreds, and it was amazing to see he was only pushed back ever so slightly, rather than bowled over and left clasping his popped ears.
“Oh, Canary, that’s rude,” said Naga. “I’ve gone toe-to-toe with Superman. You think a bit of a shriek will send me to my knees?”
“Yikes, no wonder the League wanted nothing to do with him, this guy yaps,” said Plastic Man. He sent a fist flying toward Naga’s face, but a hand caught it before it could impact. Eel was shocked. “Grace! What are you doing?”
“There is no god but god,” said Grace, in a flat monotone, clutching Plastic Man’s prehensile fist in her own.
“Oh, I made a new friend,” said Naga. “She took care of your robot for me. Do you want to know how I did it?” Grace yanked Eel forward and Naga took a hold of his hand with his own bare fingers. “Plastic Man, incapacitate Manhunter, Huntress and--” A crossbow bolt shot through Naga’s shoulder and out the other side, causing the leader of the Kobra cult to cry out in shock.
Plastic Man turned to Naga’s attacker and swung his other fist around before she could say something scathing, knocking her off her feet and into the back wall. Manhunter made a move toward Grace but Eel wrapped his arm around her torso and threw her toward Choi, who knocked her out with one punch.
Animal Man, Batwoman and Black Canary were left standing, and in complete and utter shock. “Plastic Man-- Grace--“ started Barbara.
Animal Man reached into the Red and went Rhino. On all fours he charged toward Lord Naga, disregarding anything else around him. He was about to shift into African Elephant, over six tons of mass against this insipid cult leader, but Grace stepped in front of Lord Naga and he screeched to a halt, only to be entangled by Plastic Man and punched repeatedly in the face by his teammates. Africal Elephant only helped him so much, and it wasn’t long before he was unconscious.
“Faith… to Kali… Yuga!” spat Naga, wrenching the bolt out of his arm. “You didn’t think to bring backup?”
“What did you do to them?” demanded Batwoman.
“I shared my gift with them,” said Naga, brushing his hands over the face of the battered Animal Man. “Plastic Man, bring your other unconscious teammates over to me, please.”
Black Canary stepped over the body of Huntress. “Don’t you touch--” Eel slapped her out of the way and she turned her Canary Cry on him, sending ripples through his body. Even as the sound wave ploughed into him, he dragged Huntress and Manhunter over toward Lord Naga.
“Justice League, this is Batwoman, we have an--” Batwoman checked her comms but the signal was being jammed. Lord Naga simply laughed at her attempt to call for help.
“Toe-to-toe with Superman, Batwoman! I have every contingency in place, including comms jamming,” said Lord Naga. “Grace, please break Black Canary’s jaw.”
Grace Choi moved toward Canary, who grimaced at the sight of Grace pounding toward her, fists raised. Dinah flipped over Choi’s head, well aware that a fistfight wouldn’t end well for her. But with her martial prowess, if she could just knock her out, get her out of the game-- she took Grace’s legs out from underneath her with a spin kick and was about to perform a Canary Cry in close proximity, modulated at such a level as to knock her out, when Plastic Man-- who had restrained Batwoman with one arm-- wrapped a hand around her mouth and twisted, dislocating her jaw instantly.
Dinah cried out, but was unable to speak, her jaw swelling before it was able to relocate. Grace grabbed her foot, dragged her down, and punched her square in the mouth, knocking her out and finishing the job Plastic Man started.
“If my other disciples wouldn’t get so jealous, I’d be half-inclined to keep you all,” said Lord Naga. “My own set of Outsiders…”
“How… are you… doing this?” spat Batwoman.
Naga pushed his fingers across Batwoman’s face, covering her mouth, and spoke slowly. “Stop moving.”
Batwoman did as she was told.
“Good. Well behaved.” Lord Naga began to unclasp his mask and with one theatrical flourish, revealed his face to Barbara. “I am, of course, who I always was.”
“Jason Burr,” said Batwoman. “How are you here? What are you doing?”
Jason’s skin was pale grey, horrific, scarified scales covering his flesh. His eyes were the greenest green, reptilian irises visible when Batwoman stared at him. “You won’t be in much position to do anything about it, so why not have some exposition?”
Burr looked over to Plastic Man. “Bring the Outsiders over here, please.” The Outsiders were dragged to his feet, and Naga patted Plastic Man on the shoulder. In turn, he touched the faces of each member of the team. “You will forget everything that happened here.”
Finally, Burr turned back to Batwoman. “My brother thought he was the brains of the operation. But his first mistake was keeping me locked in the dark for thirty years. At first, I was his prisoner, but when they began their experiments on me, I soon learned I had the potential inside me to become something great. I shed my skin, you see, and that husk can become an exact duplicate. You know of mad Jason and good Jason, up in the outside world. Their predilections were decided by my second ability. My touch compels action. If I shake someone’s hand and give an order, they’ll do just that. Instant recruitment. Instant control. That’s how I got your Grace over there to tear Red Tornado to bits when they arrived. I’ve been tracking you since you arrived in my Arctic base. Good work on the DNA lock, by the way.”
“You were your brother’s prisoner, he kept you locked up--”
“For appearance’s sake,” said Jason. “As soon as my powers manifested, I took control of Kobra through him. It was I who killed the pretender King Kobra last year. After every action I returned to the relative comfort of my cell, and I, of course, had access to the teleport matrix behind the wall.”
“But the experiments he had performed on you--”
“On my command, dear girl. They were used to help enhance my power. Extend my compulsion touch,” said Jason. “At first my control was only for the duration of skin-on-skin contact. Now I need only a slight touch, and then I can continue to give orders. For example--” He looked over to Plastic Man. “--Go to sleep.” Eel keeled over. “Simple.”
“But you… you faced off against the Justice League… you could have taken control of Superman, Wonder Woman, any of them--”
“When it wasn’t the exoskeleton around my dear dead brother, it was mad Jason out in the world. Good Jason, compelled to have no memory of being the leader of the cult, faced the test of Wonder Woman’s lasso.” Jason laughed. “I was scared that it might pick apart the truth then, but I programmed not an ounce of bad in him. I saved that for me.” He looked at his scaled hand. “Of course, my compulsive touch is my gift, and mine alone. The duplicates I created have only my wits and my programming. They know, are, everything I want them to be, and nothing more.”
“You ordered your own brother into your cell to give you the perfect alibi,” said Batwoman.
“You’re getting it now,” said Jason. He looked down and could see Batwoman clench her fists, and he slapped her across the face. “Do not resist me.”
Batwoman swallowed, something in her chest clenching.
“Good. Good. So yes, Jeffrey came running down and I swapped places with good Jason. Told him to unclip my brother’s gun holster and shoot him when it was clear that Jeffrey couldn’t be talked down. I pushed dear brother to madness then and there, before those soldiers came down. Gave him every bad thought inside me. Drove him a little mad.”
“That’s why he was ranting when they found him,” said Batwoman.
“You’ve got it, you clever girl,” said Jeffrey. He clipped his stone mask back over his face and nodded. “Now, I have no wanting to rehash old arguments with the Justice League, so killing you is out of the question.” He rolled his fingers across Batwoman’s cheek as she struggled. “You will forget you ever saw me down here.”
“Nnnnno,” growled Batwoman. She was the last Outsider standing, but the touch of Lord Naga was so overpowering, she could barely think straight.
“You will forget you ever came this far or I will make you kill yourself,” hissed Naga. He leaned in close to her ear. “I could do so much worse, but if you think, killing you would be such an inconvenience. The Justice League think me defeated, locked up, or harmless. There are two of me out in the world, and the third, the true me, lurking in the shadows, waiting for my moment to strike. If you go, forgetting what you’ve seen, you might be able to find me once more, you might be able to strike me down before I ruin the world. So, you can either forget, or die horribly. Make a choice, Batwoman.”
Blood dribbled down from Barbara Gordon’s nostrils as she tried to resist Lord Naga’s powers, but he had his hooks in her-- at the last moment, she gasped, exhaled like every bit of air in her lungs was tainted, then passed out.
Grace Choi stood perfectly still nearby, unable to override the command given to her by Lord Naga. He turned casually, and walked over to her. He took her hand and smiled, rubbing his thumb against her palm. “Take your teammates and return to whatever place you call home. Once you’re on the other side of the portal, you will claim you were attacked by, oh, I don’t know… that damned Secret Society of Super Villains. Let them take up your time. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” replied Grace.
“Thank you, young lady. Now, go,” Lord Naga turned away from her and headed down the corridor to his science centre, where the next stages of his plan were about to unfold.
TWENTY FOUR HOURS LATER, IN LAS VEGAS:
As he materialised in Barbara Gordon’s apartment, Bruce Wayne wore a concerned expression. “I came as soon as I heard-- Are you all right? How’re the others?”
Barbara Gordon sighed sadly. “I think we’ve been better. Reddy’s already gone into self-repair mode, so he should be back together in no time. I know Zatanna has healed Dinah’s jaw and everybody else’s bruises, but our battered egos are another thing all together…”
“What happened down there? It was an investigation, how did it escalate--?”
“Kobra left a nest of their reptile / human hybrids down in the belly of their base, but that wasn’t too hard to unpick. Everything was going fine until the Society turned up. I think they were looking for whatever loose ends Kobra left down there, and we made it out by the skin of our teeth. Reddy is a mess, but we’ll get back on it when we’re back on our feet.”
“I found no trace of the Society when I went down there with Wonder Woman,” said Bruce. “They covered their tracks like they always do. But I can’t ask you to continue. I know you are more than willing to do so, but if the Society are involved, then we need to readjust, reconfigure the point of the investigation. I’m concerned that if the Society are going to war with Kobra that a conflict of that magnitude could be more terrible than we can imagine.”
“I knew the risks going in,” said Barbara. “My team did when I called them into it. I want to continue this, Bruce.”
Bruce leaned back. “If I told you not to, if I forbade you, I assume you would simply ignore me and keep digging?”
“You know I would,” said Barbara, smiling wryly.
“Daily reports. Every twenty-four hours, I want an update,” said Bruce, pointing a finger at Barbara as he spoke to reinforce his point. “I want your honest opinion every time, and if I tell you that it’s time for you to withdraw, you withdraw. You do not engage with Kobra or the Society. You do not go to Santa Prisca. That rogue nation is a death trap for the likes of us. Ollie and I nearly died the last time we were there.”
“You were thrown into their prison, Bruce. I don’t intend to make that mistake,” said Barbara. “I’ll update you every twenty-four hours, but I’ll follow the leads down wherever the rabbit hole takes me. I’m a detective. I know the risks and I know what needs to be done.”
“All right,” said Bruce. He extended his hands out to Barbara and, while surprised by his act, she took them. “But if you get in trouble, you call in the Justice League. And I will tear the world apart to help you.”
“I appreciate it, Bruce,” said Barbara.
Bruce stood, straightened his jacket and smiled at his protégé. “Stay safe, Barbara.” He stepped through a portal in space generated via their transportation system, and she was left sitting alone, in her apartment, considering the events of the last two days.
“Computer, replay cowl cam footage from twenty-four hours ago,” said Barbara, the AI in her apartment’s high-tech computer systems picking up the voice request and following her instructions. The holographic display hidden in her bookcase projected the footage-- a Batwoman’s eye view-- of what transpired at the bottom of the Kobra base.
Lord Naga’s voice filled the apartment.
“…The Justice League think me defeated, locked up, or harmless. There are two of me out in the world, and the third, the true me, lurking in the shadows, waiting for my moment to strike. If you go, forgetting what you’ve seen, you might be able to find me once more, you might be able to strike me down before I ruin the world. So, you can either forget, or die horribly. Make a choice, Batwoman.”
“I’m smarter than you and I’m going to take you down, you sonofabitch,” said Barbara. ”That’s a promise.”
AN UNKNOWN LOCATION:
The religious caste known as the Planetmasters, currently sworn to loyalty to Lord Naga and the Kobra Cult, bowed in respect as the former moved past their ranks toward the science centre. “Are your psychic-blockers activated?” he asked.
“Yes, my lord,” said the lead Planetmaster.
“Good. Nothing leaves this room alive unless I give the word,” said Naga. “We didn’t go to all the effort of stealing the Erdel Gate from the Global Peace Agency to have it fall apart now.”
“Of course, my lord.”
Lord Naga entered the science centre as the Erdel Gate, the teleportation matrix capable of reaching out across the stars and claiming visitors from throughout the galaxy, blossomed with energy as it reached full capacity. The twisting vortex beckoned four explorers forward but they paused at the threshold, awaiting their orders.
This would be a great day for science, if the explorers were not clad in emerald and amber atmospheric suits, if the explorers were not religious zealots who worshipped Kali Yuga. If they did not worship the end of the world…
“Can they hear me?” said Lord Naga.
The scientist beside him nodded and Naga leaned forward toward the microphone.
“You are about to venture beyond this world to another. You are about to journey across worlds to a place that so few have visited. There is a man-- well, he is scarcely a man, more like a nightmare-- waiting for your arrival. This nightmare has whispered across the depths of space and we have heard. The Cult of Kobra welcomes all with open arms and eyes, as long as they believe in what we believe. That order is not the default expression of the world, that chaos is the true force for good in this universe. We are chaos. We are Kobra. We are the bearers of true power.”
The explorers raised their fists in silent salute. Their comms crackled as they activated, and in unison they declared: “No god but god. Faith to Kali Yuga.”
“Go forth. Find our friend. Bring him to our church so we might worship chaos together,” said Lord Naga. “Go forth and spread our word.”
The explorers moved slowly through the portal. Silence rushed through the empty chamber.
“Who is…” said one of the scientists, her voice tentative, “who is it we’re bringing here?”
Lord Naga turned to face her, his mask giving nothing away. “A potential ally capable of ending the world ten times over.”
The first explorer returned violently, his facemask smashed, his body an exploded husk. Dozens of holes were in his spacesuit, all blanched red around the edges. He collided with the back wall and crumped across the floor, a crystallised smear.
“Good God,” said the scientist.
“Yes,” said Lord Naga. “He is found.”
Another explorer rolled out of the portal, his head gone.
Twin beams of scarlet light shot through the chamber, knocking out the lights.
The scientist at the monitors looked around manically. “What is it? Who is it?”
Lord Naga said nothing. The female scientist cursed and headed for the exit. When she got outside, the Planetmasters converged and blasted her into oblivion with their anti-matter gauntlets.
Back inside the science centre, there was another sound as the portal popped and another explorer slid through in two parts.
The chamber was in complete darkness. The Lanceheads on guard raised their weapons while Naga watched. Their bodies were shredded in seconds by a force that moved invisibly through the chamber.
The final explorer emerged from the portal, his helmet removed and his jaw split vertically. The sight was a jagged mess, blood and bone frozen in place.
Words began to dribble out of the dead man’s mouth. “I-- expected-- more-- fanfare.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’ve never stepped foot on Earth before,” said Lord Naga. “You don’t want fanfare, you want freedom.”
The final explorer’s head lolled around, exposing the hole in his head where five entry points had been made by what could only be assumed to be super-strong fingers.
“Well-- aren’t-- you-- a-- clever-- human.”
“I don’t claim to be clever, but I claim to be holy,” said Lord Naga. “But my crusade is a lonely one, and I gather like-minded souls to my cause to assist in seeing Kali Yuga come to pass.”
The final explorer collapsed in a wet pile and the portal shimmered as something came through. Invisible to the naked eye. Formless.
{I cannot read your mind,} said the voice. It was alien. Horrifically alien. {But I can speak thoughts into your head. You are an anomaly. Unlike anything I have ever seen. It is almost as if you are de--}
“How perturbing I must be for you, considering your origins,” said Lord Naga.
{I do not need to read your mind to kill you, human,} said the voice.
“No, but if you wish to torment your brother, you would be wise to listen to my words,” said Naga. He turned away from the figure in the dark and there was a hint of amusement in his voice. “You have come so far to finish what you started, have you not?”
{My brother is my business and mine alone. He has something of mine that I want back. Nothing you do could change my feelings on that subject.}
“You are weak, my friend. Your current form suggests as much---”
{Do you know of the V’ora’vash?}
”The term is unfamiliar to me, and I can tell you’re itching to tell a story, so please, elucidate,” said Lord Naga.
{You speak of Kali Yuga and the great age of chaos. I have licked the minds of your disciples clean and I know all about your dogma, snake king. V’ora’vash is the equivalent where I come from. An endless burning through the universe. V’ora’vash excites me, snake king. An age of chaos excites me}
Rising from where it sat cross-legged, the needle thin figure became clear to Lord Naga. Its skin was rough and calloused, scars etched across the surface of its flesh. Its mouth was full of teeth, its eyes red and piercing. The creature was obviously mad. Obviously powerful. Obviously evil.
{I will unleash chaos on a scale you can scarcely imagine} hissed the voice.
“My imagination is vast and twisted,” said Lord Naga. “There is no god but god.” Under his mask, there could be nothing but a smile. “Welcome to Earth, Martian. Do you have a name?”
A sinister laugh filled the tomb-like science centre of Lord Naga, then a name rolled out of the psychic immensity, filling the leader of the Kobra cult with excitement and trepidation.
{…My name is Ma'alefa'ak and I will do to humanity what I did to my own people.}
“And that is?” asked Lord Naga.
{Burn their souls down to ash.}
"Perfection," hissed Lord Naga.
FOLLOW THE OUTSIDERS IN THEIR NEXT ADVENTURE, "GET KOBRA!" COMING LATER THIS YEAR!
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