In Darkness Dwell
The life and dark times of Gothena, a villain in the DC Universe
Chapter 5: Bigger Fish
Lex spoke into his communicator. "Deathstroke, do you read me?" "Loud and clear Lex" came the reply. "Good. I'm on route to site beta but won't reach there before you. There's some interference in the area that prevents teleporting so I have to fly in. My ETA is about 45 minutes. How long before you get there?" "I should hit the target zone in about 15 minutes. Standard capture and contain protocol in effect."
"Deathstroke, remember this is a capture only mission. She must be taken alive and mostly in tact. Some damage is acceptable but nothing permanent. I don't want any accidents. Are we understood?" "Loud and clear Lex. I read the contract" he said and continued "do you have any other operatives in the area other than the ones on the dossier?" "No. Just the recon team and the two support teams and they're at your disposal and completely disposable at your discretion. We need to keep this somewhat quiet. If we have any issues, I can have a cleanup crew take care of the area afterwards. Agent Serendipity is leading support team. He's expendable but less so than the rest. I've invested a lot in him and would like to preserve that investment if possible."
"I'm almost there Lex. Closing this channel. I need to focus if it comes to a fight." Deathstroke tapped a button on the comm and looked at the instrument cluster. He would be landing in a moment. Best to land outside the area. This craft was quiet but not that quiet.
The door opened and a tall, well dressed man walked in. "You wanted to see me Mr. Luthor?" "I did. Please, sit. I've been reviewing your file. Three tours in Vietnam doing black ops. You've excelled in every mission you were assigned. If your work had been public, you would have ever medal the military can give. As it stands, your file is sealed with only the highest level of security clearance to access it so the average citizen can never know how much you did for them. That's a shame but necessary. You joined the FBI after that and made it through the training with perfect scores, with special recognitioin for excellence from the instructors. Since you were recruited to my group of Agents by your old CO, you've performed your assigned duties exemplary. I should have had this sit down with you already. You're an asset to Lexcorp and I want to expand your role. Are you intrested?"
The man looked surprised. "I would be honored. After I left the military I had trouble finding a place to fit in. I didn't feel like I belonged until I joined Lexcorp sir." Lex continued. "Good. I'm glad to hear it. I'm going to have the FBI assign you to head the manhunt for Alicia Smith. They're putting together a task force. You've been a loyal agent and I think it's time to give you more of a leadership role. You're my best inside man at the Bureau and I think you're the person to run this operation" said Luthor very matter of factly. The man looked at him. "I'm honored sir. I appreciate the trust in me." Luthor looked at him coldly. "There's no need for banality. I know what you're capable of and you know what you're capable of. Your new designation is Agent Serendipity."
"One thing. Her mother wants her alive and I will accept no mistakes. You'll get the official notification from the assistant direct tomorrow officially promoting you and assigning you to the case. This is her file. It has all of the relevant details you'll need including what the Bureau doesn't know. Theer is no reason the girl needs to know any of this." Agent Serendipity opened the dossier. "Is this legitimate? Is her mother..." "Yes. She is. And that dossier is completely confidential. Once you've memorized it, destroy it using the standard means. Dismissed."
Deathstroke was speaking into a console.
Subject's name is Gothena. Subject's powers are mental in nature with a magical origin. She exibits strong telekenetic abilities, empathic projection capable of stunning and invoking terror. Subject can also use invisibility, flight and energy blast projection. Power level is not infinite and can be exhausted.
Subject is skilled in the use of multiple weapons but prefers super powers over weapons and weapon skill is inferior to said powers. She has some martial arts training thought not extensive.
Subject has enhanced strength, reflexes and healing, indicative of exobyte infusion however subject's enhanced physical abilities may also be due to birth. Mother is Circe, a decendant of Titans. Public records and police files indicate subject showed evidence of high strength, reflexes and fast healing prior to exobyte exposure thought not at superhuman levels. This is likely due to lineage. Father unknown.
Subject's mental state is unstable at best. Subject is prone to fits of rage and is either sociopathic or psychopathic but as psychiatric reports are scarce and only partial it makes determination of sanity impossible at this point. Subject also has a history of drug abuse but shows no signs of recurrence.
Subject has shown to over react under certain emotional triggers. Subject often exhibits a lack of forethought and has show to be especially rash when under emotional duress.
Agent Serendipity studied the reports. Was this for real? She's the daughter of an actual goddess. Does that make her a demigoddess? Her record indicates she's strong, fast and dangerous but she's obviously not invulnerable.
Police reports indicate she has a history of drug abuse, often preferring opiates but more recently has turned to uppers since police pursuit has intensified and has tested positive for PCP on several post-arrest drug tests but that didn't fit her profile. Test results are missing from reports and only anecdotal statements from police validate them. Curious. It wouldn't be the first time police made up charges.
Her psych workups are incomplete. The few times they've gotten her before a shrink she either turns to stone or lies. The last time she went for an evaluation, she spent the entire session singing church hymns. She's obviously not above killing and torturing people. It doesn't matter if she does it because she's crazy or evil, Lex wants her taken down so I'll take her down.
So she's unstable, has a vicious mean streak and potentially drug fueled. This should be fun.
Deathstroke landed about a half a mile outside of the clearing. He cleared the distance to the gap in the tree line with incredible speed and silence. He approached the clearing and it was empty. Scanning the tree line, he located Agent Serendiptity's group and circled around to them.
The Agent greeted him. "Mr. Luthor indicates you have full operational control here. What are your orders sir?" Deathstroke looked at the small force. "You're crowd control. This is a no witness situation. We don't want public scrutiny. Geographical maps indicate that entrance is the only way in or out which is easily containable but there could be stragglers not inside already. Have your groups spread out and form a large perimeter. Shoot to kill. Do not engage Gothena. Your people are not equipped to handle her. Keep a med team ready. She'll probably need one when this is over. Lex wants her alive but I don't think she'll go quietly so the medics are going to have some work to do when this is over."
The agents began to spread out. They were well trained and knew their jobs. Deathstroke heard them moving through the trees and the occasional shot fired. They will handle their portion well enough. The rest was up to him. He waited patiently. She would come out. It could be minutes. It could be hours. He had time.
Finding Alicia wasn't exactly hard. She didn't keep a low profile. Within a few days of being on the case, Agent Serendipity got a break. A cashier at a convenience store in Missouri was shot and she was caught on camera. This helped them narrow the search area but concered him. She was getting bolder. This was a cold blooded murder in the middle of the afternoon in suburbia. She knew heat was coming after the DA's public circus and it seemed she was going to meet it head on.
An agent walked in and handed him a memo. "Sir this was just faxed in and seems like it was intended for you." He looked at the sheet of paper. It read "Attn: To whatever dickhole is in charge of the Alicia Smith manhunt, call me. Lets chat. XOXOXO" and had a telephone number on it. He looked at the junior agent that handed him the letter. "Is this for real?" "I don't know sir. It came in on the general public line and was routed up to us. The transmission number was traced to the Tulsa area. The phone number listed is a pre-paid phone bought in Branson. Store has no video surveillance and the cashier has no recollection of the purchaser."
She looked at the exit and took a deep breath. She thought she could come home but she was wrong. She already was home but now she might have blown it. This place was just a little girl's fantasy. Lex was angry. Circe didn't trust her. She had burned a lot of bridges and wasn't sure if she could go back but she had to try. What was her other choice? Go rogue and be hunted forever by the Society and the League? No. The Society was her family. She had to make this right.
It was true. Everything her mother said. Her life had made her strong and thinking back, when Circe took her out of that court room, she told her she was reborn. In spirit she was correct. The day Lex pulled her out of that bottle she was reborn physically. Alicia was dead. She could never go back to that. Now, she stood at another door. She didn't know what was on the other side, but she knew one thing. She had to walk through it and face her mistakes. She had to walk through fire she started and hope she didn't get burned too badly.
As she opened the door, it took a second for her eyes to adjust to the sunlight. She walked out and the field was quiet. There were no lookouts either. Something was wrong. She looked around and saw nothing. There. On the other side of the field was movement. It was someone in a uniform. Lexcorp security. That wasn't so bad. She could handle his agents. She would contact him once she had a chance to get out of here and try to make ammends with him. She watched the agents who were oblvious to her. There were others and they didn't seem to be paying attention to the entrance at all. That was unusual.
The force of the first blast took her off her feet and launched her backwards into the rock face. She didn't even see it coming. A second blast went off but in that second between them she managed to get her shields up. Even through her energy bubble, she felt the strength of that blast and realized she was bleeding from the first one. What the hell was that? She'd taken a blast of dynamite at point blank and not been hit that hard. She staggered to her feet, dazed but no major injuries just some shrapnel cuts and minor burns. She saw something out of the corner of her eye. There. At the edge of the field on the other side. Her eyes were starting to focus again and the motion took on an orange and blue haze. As she got her eyes focused again, she realized it was Deathstroke. "Oh fuck" she said as she saw another streak of smoke coming towards her.
Agent Serendipity looked at the number. He sat down at a nearby desk, put the phone on speaker and dialed it. "Well, hello there. You must be the stuffed shirt that DA has on my ass" said a sweet voice on the other end. "So you must be Alicia? It's nice to finally talk to you. What do you say I buy you a cup of coffee and we sit down and have a chat somehwere? Where should we meet?" he said trying sound as suave as he could.
"Well aren't you the sweet one. You sound handsome. What's your name? Maybe we can forget this whole cops and robbers business and go have some fun on a beach somewhere? I could use a tan I think I'm too pale" she said flirtatiously. "My name? You can call me the Boogieman and I'm coming for you. You killed cops and you assaulted a district attorney running for a public office during election year. You know how this ends" he stated very matter of factly. "We're coming for you Alicia. For your sake, you better hope I find you first. I want you alive. I can't say as much for the local police." "Gotta run love. I'm low on cash and need to make a withdrawel. Now to find a bank..." she said and the line went dead. He looked at the agent at the computer terminal. "Did you get a location?"
"Not pinpoint sir only a region. The last tower that signal touched was in Tulsa." "Thank you agent. Have the team mobilize. We're going to Wichita." "Sir? I don't understand. All of her recent activities have been on a path southeast mostly along I44. Wouldn't her next stop be Oklahoma City? She's probably heading south for the border." "You're right and wrong. She's been following that route but not because she's running for the border. She's been following it because she's hunting. A nun was killed at a church in Tulsa two days ago. Just under a month ago, it was a nun in St. Louis. Both of those looked like random muggings so they weren't paid much attention. However, both of them worked at an orphanage that was closed down a while ago and the staff assigned to other churches. One of the other nuns retired and is living at a small seminary in Wichita. She's the next closest one."
He was still firing. She soaked the blasts with her shield and reached out to his mind. He was disciplined. She tried to reach inside and for a moment and terrorize him, he wavered but shrugged it off. Okay that didn't work. More missiles hit around her. She managed to detonate most of them with energy waves and eventually he ran out. He switched to a beam weapon and continued firing from a kneeling position. She managed to hit him with a blast of her telekinetic energy that knocked him off his feet momentarily. She smiled and started walking towards him firing blasts from her hands intermixed with blasts of mental energy. She was beating him back. He wasn't so tough.
Lost in the adrenaline of the fight, the thrill of beating someone like Deathstroke, she didn't realize how much energy she was spending. Too late she realized it was a feint. He had been able to withstand the attack. Just like Circe she thought. Overconfidence and hubris. She was realizing how much she really did have to learn. Deathstroke pulled out a katana and moved towards her. She started to grab her blades but realized she was no match for him with swords and she was too tired to continue her mental attacks. She turned invisible and took to the sky.
Deathstroke casually pulled a small gun with a barb from a holster on his leg. He took careful aim, his special optics easily seeing her and fired. The barb pierced her leg between the two bones on her calf and spikes came out. A thin line trailed the spear. He stepped around a tree, braced himself and pulled.
The pain in her leg was extraordinary and caught her completely off guard and she screamed. Then she stopped going forward and her trajectory changed as the cord tightened and she went down with the same speed she was going forward. She hit the ground hard. She was dazed but tried to stand anyway. Her leg wasn't broken but the spikes kept the barb attached inside the muscle making it effectively unusable and intensely painful. She tried to run away, or more accurate hobble away, and he yanked the cord again. She screamed and fell to the ground.
Deathstroke calmly walked over to her. She was hurt but not beaten. No reason to get cocky. He looked down at her. She stood up, pulled her scimitars and faced him. She could barely stand and had multiple additional injuries from the crash. She might be going to die but she would die on her feet not like some coward. He pulled his katana and advanced. He was like fighting lightning. He was faster, stronger and more skilled than her. She realized she couldn't beat him but was too young and arrogant to give up. After several well placed attacks, she was bleeding from several wounds. Her regeneration kept it from being fatal but it still took its toll.
Agent Serendipity smiled. He had her. The police scanner indicated a Corvette matching the description of one stolen the night before was heading his way. It was about time. They'd been watching the location for almost a week with nothing. There had been two minor robberies that fit her M.O. more or less on a general path in this direction but no living witnesses or security cameras to say for certain. Now they had her. The unit that called in the license was ordered to fallback and let her go.
His phone rang. "Hello asshole. I noticed the cops backed off. They had plenty of time to run these plates and know it's stolen. I wonder who told them to do that? I guess that means we're about to dance. Mind if I lead? Catch me if you can." The phone didn't go dead but she stopped talking and he heard tires squealing. "She's on to is. All units move. She's on the run" he said starting up his car.
She cut down a side street, pushing the limits of the car. The police and feds followed behind but couldn't keep up with the 'Vette. A police helicopter was able to follow her and direct the units. She cut through side streets, zig zagged randomly through the city and eventually she was far enough ahead the pursuit units were out of site but still the helicopter followed her. She continued at full speed and cut down a country road along a wooded area hoping the helicopter would lose site in the tree cover.
During the chase, she kept taunting him. She was unstoppable and this latest guy wouldn't bring her down anymore than the others. She didn't see the tractor. She swerved around a slow moving truck and cut down a cross street into another road. She swerved back and forth between the lanes and lost control. The car hit a retaining wall and she blacked out.
Agent Serendipity went as fast as he could, relying on directions from the helicopter to continue pursuit. He heard the crash through her still active phone then it went silent. She hit a wall was the message on the radio. His first thought was if she dies, Lex was going to be pissed. He was one of the first on the scene. She was alive and crawilng out of the car. She was bleeding and hurt badly but still moving. She started to get up and he kicked her. He had a lot of momentum and he heard ribs break as his foot met her side. "Lay down bitch. You're not getting away this time. We got you." He fired a taser and she collapsed.
She lunged a final time and fell forward, her face hitting the ground and the bone in her nose shattering on impact. She rolled over, tried to grab for her sword and he stomped her wrist. She heard the bones crack. She tried one last time to get up, using her one good hand and leg and Deathstroke kicked her. She felt the wind rush out of her and bones break. She lay on her back staring at him through the haze of blood in her eyes. "Make it quick. At least give me the honor of a quick death. I would have done the same for you" she said, barely able to talk through the pain and swelling in her lips from hitting the ground face first. "I'm not going to kill you. He wants you alive but I can't have you resisting either" said Deathstroke. He took out a small metal case, removed a prepared syringe and jammed it into her neck. "Nighty night."
Deathstroke stood up and tapped his comm. "Lex, she's contained." Lex replied "Good. I'll be there momentarily. I'm a few minutes out." Deathstroke changed frequencies and continued. "Agent Serendipity, get a medic over here and a transport team. Stabilize and secure her for transport. Lex is incoming and will want her ready to move." "Yes sir" agent Serendipidy replied. A few minutes later, the medical team had put braces and bandages where needed and secured her to a transport sled.
Lex got out and came over to the transport. "Get her loaded. We're taking her to Lexcorp. Good work gentlemen."