9 Justice League Shadows
The teleporter delivered Supreme and the Female Furies into the reactor compound. Alarms immediately began to sound and they were swiftly confronted by a living wall aiming rifles at them. Behind the guards, trucks with mounted machine guns chambered their belt fed rounds. An officer strode forward and began issuing orders to surrender in Russian.
Fortunately, all of Darkseid's servants were equipped with a translation device. It created a field that converted the sounds into the native tongues of both sets of speakers. Supreme, Lashina, and the other Furies had learned English along the way at Granny Goodness' Orphanage. It seemed prudent since they kept focusing their energies on English speaking countries.
"I order you to raise your hands and place them behind your heads. Failure to comply will result in getting shot!" the young officer barked.
"How many do you want?" Lashina asked Supreme as though the Belarusian hadn't spoken
"I want the whole group," he answered with menace dripping from his words.
"Have fun," Lashina dismissed the soldiers as threats, "Let's move, ladies."
The Guards opened fire only to find that Supreme could move faster than they could see. He could also hit like the fabled Superman. The officer's last act was to sound the meta-human alarm. Supreme crushed his skull in repayment of that act of defiance.
The Rocket Red Brigade Squad Two was scrambled out of St. Petersburg while Squad One in Moscow was put on alert. Squad Three in Vladivostok was put on a lower level of alert.
Belarus was a political, economic, and military ally of Russia. A Russian firm was the architect of the reactors and their associated compound. Belarus had spent billions, and was continuing to invest billions more, into this power plant. The Russians were obligated to assist their ally.
By the time Squad Two arrived, Supreme had butchered the entire guard force. The Female Furies were inside. The Rocket Reds knew this because security chatter was still on the air. The Furies had cut a swath through the technicians and scientists and were now in the control room making demands.
Pytr Aramov was the squad leader. He led a three man unit into the reactor control compound while the rest of his nine Rocket Reds attacked Supreme. Strangely enough, the intruder seemed delighted by their presence rather than intimidated. They swiftly found out why.
"Stand aside!" Lashina ordered.
"I cannot allow you to tamper with these controls," the Director of the Power Plant argued.
Lashina flicked her wrist out to her side and her whip flailed free. She then swept her arm across her body. The whip's stinger lashed the man's throat, severing the arteries to be found there. She addressed the others, "If you leave now you may survive."
The techs fled as a mob that nearly crushed itself trying to get through the exit. Bernadeth clucked her tongue, "We should have killed them."
"The radiation will kill them. Slowly and painfully. The Master's vengeance will be wreaked," Lashina promised.
"You are getting soft and slow!" Bernadeth accused.
Lashina arched an eyebrow towards her. She plucked Bernadeth's Feron blades off of the other woman's belt. She crossed the blades at Bernadeth's throat. She willed them to activate and the heat energy from them scalded Bernadeth.
"You didn't know I could do that, did you?" Lashina taunted her after she pulled the blades back.
Bernadeth rubbed her wounded throat, "You should've killed me."
"I would have, sweet Bernadeth, but the Master insists that you live. I find that terribly vexing. I serve the Master in all things, but, would he tolerate one indiscretion?" Lashina mused.
Bernadeth reached out and tried to telekinetically grab her Feron blades. Lashina laughed in her face. She held her hands aloft and the blades spun and twirled above her hands.
"Oh, the Master has shown me many things, Bernadeth dear," Lashina advised her, "So don't continue to try my patience."
"Are we interrupting something?" Pytr asked as he and his Rocket Reds made their entrance.
Lashina threw the Feron blades into Pytr's chest. He was amazed as they cut through his armor like it was tissue paper. Having impaled his heart, Lashina triggered the energy effect. Pytr barely had time to scream before he died.
The other two Rocket Reds opened up with everything they could throw at the Furies. Gilotina used her swords to behead one while Stompa smashed another into the wall. She yanked his helmet off and then stepped away. Bloody Mary approached with a hungry smile and grasped him by each ear. He died crying for mercy.
"They never realize that it's painless if you just surrender," Bloody Mary laughed.
"Well, the controls are smashed all to hell," Speed Queen groused.
"We have an answer for that. Don't we, Wunda?" Lashina smiled victoriously.
All eyes drifted in Wunda's direction. She appeared like a tangible being but in truth she was a living energy matrix. A matrix that found expression by possessing organic and inorganic constructs.
"Not a problem," Wunda declared and then "possessed" the control connections. Moments later, alarms klaxons sounded. They resonated throughout the building and the facility beyond. Wunda reappeared.
"The fuel storage depot is on a separate circuit. We'll have to go there directly," Wunda reported.
"But the cooling rods have been withdrawn?" Lashina asked.
"Yes, and the water tanks have been purged. They won't be able to cool the reactor that way," Wunda smiled, "But they could still manually reinsert the cooling rods."
"Stompa, Speed Queen, Gilotina…and Bernadeth, sabotage the system. I want this so-called 'accident' to be irreversible," Lashina commanded.
Three of the Furies left without comment. Rather, they displayed a rather sadistic glee. Bernadeth, however, was sullen.
"Oh, cheer up," Lashina urged, "It's your first command."
Bernadeth scowled as Lashina erupted into mocking laughter. After the assigned Furies left, Lashina turned to those that remained, "Artemiz, cover the high ground. Set your cyberpak to patrolling the grounds. Mad Harriet, you and Wunda are with me. Malice and Bloody Mary, offer a sweet surprise to those that try to interfere."
"You expect the Justice League to come?" Artemiz asked.
"Of course. Wouldn't you try to save the day?" Lashina asked facetiously.
They all laughed at that.
The teleporter dropped Captain Cold's Rogues onto an oil drilling platform in the Arctic Sea. Cold felt invigorated by the crisp air. Heat Wave, on the other hand, immediately began to panic. The Trickster was looking out of sorts as well. He'd told them all to wear winter gear. The JLU Gotham base certainly had enough of it.
Captain Cold was pleased to see his sister, the Golden Glider, was adapting to the temperatures. Her boyfriend, the Top, also was handling things in stride. His merits went up a notch with Cold. Captain Boomerang was cursing and patting himself down, trying to stimulate blood flow. Mirror Master looked kind of morose but he'd been rather bummed out lately.
Captain Cold attributed Mirror Master's mood to the fact he forcibly dragged the poor slob out of retirement. The Weather Wizard seemed at home as did their only non-Rogue teammates, Bizarro and Plastique. The Weather Wizard approached Captain Cold.
"Do you want me to adjust the weather?" he asked amiably. It didn't matter one way or the other to him.
"Let's leave it as is for now," Captain Cold replied.
"Okay, but Heat Wave is going to hyperventilate if his panic attack gets any worse," Weather Wizard warned.
"Oh, for the luvva…!" Captain Cold exclaimed. He marched over and got into Heat Wave's face, "Buck up, man! That environmental suit can keep you warm in minus forty degrees Fahrenheit. Trust me, it's not that cold."
Heat Wave's lips were blue and his teeth were chattering, "But I'm freezing."
"Oh, for God's sake," Captain Cold griped, "Call the base and request an emergency evac."
"Thank you!" Heat Wave practically kissed him.
As the platform bosses approached, Heat Wave vanished in a blue flash. They must have realized only the JLU and the ISA had access to that technology. Yet the Rogues were an unfamiliar cast of characters.
"Gentlemen, just the people we want to talk to," Captain Cold began the speech he had prepared, "I want you to evacuate immediately."
"Are you shittin' me?" the foreman asked.
"Not to put it too delicately, no," Captain Cold replied.
"You'll have to kill us to get us off of this here rig," the foreman boasted. Several coworkers gave their assent.
Captain Cold pulled out his cold blaster, "Very well."
He transformed the foreman into an ice sculpture, "Now see that? Now you have to carry him off."
The workers dragged the foreman's frozen husk towards where the elevator leading to the boats was. Captain Cold turned to his compatriots, "Bizarro, go across to the other rig and disable it."
"Huh?" Bizarro wondered what he'd said.
Captain Cold pointed at the neighboring rig, "Go there and smash everything."
"Okay," Bizarro said happily and flew off.
Captain Cold turned to Plastique, "Now m'dear, it's your turn to play."
Plastique's smile radiated pure joy, "Happily."
Superwoman gazed out across the expanse of Hoover Dam. "Excellent."
"You like it?" Ultraman asked.
Superwoman shook her head and tried to stem off the approaching migraine. The Kryptonian from Earth-3 wasn't the brightest. In fact, he was close to the dimmest. Only Bizarro had him beat in the stupid factor. But he was hell on wheels in bed so she forgave him a lot.
"This is going to be easy," Superwoman spelled it for him.
"Oh," Ultraman conceded.
"We've been spotted, boss," Power Ring advised.
Power Ring and Ultraman were the only surviving members of the Crime Syndicate. She trusted them with her life. And other delectable things.
"Major Disaster!" she turned to face him, "Are you ready?"
"Did you know that the dam sits on the border between Arizona and Nevada? The closest town Boulder City was founded as a camp for the construction workers that built it. US 93 got a bypass to the dam in 2010," Major Disaster regurgitated fact after fact.
"I don't give a damn!" Superwoman snapped, "Can you destroy it or not?"
"Yeah, I can wreck it," Major Disaster disclosed, "But a lot of people downriver are going to get flooded when Lake Mead empties out."
"Do I look like I care?" Superwoman asked, "I have a million dollars riding on this little venture. So do you, if you recall. I don't think Luthor will pay up for a failure. So don't half ass this!"
"You can all fly so you might want to give Bid Sir a lift," Major Disaster requested.
Power Ring lifted Big Sir in a construct. He looked to his friend, "Where are we going, Major Man?"
"They're just keeping you safe," Major Disaster assured him.
"Why? Is something bad going to happen?" Big Sire asked with childlike innocence.
"Yeah. Something real bad is going to happen," Major Disaster said as he stretched out his hand. The tremor began quietly. People noticed a slight vibration but then it grew. Cracks and fissures formed in the ground. People were thrown off of their feet as they tried to run to safety. Only there wasn't any. Chunks of concrete began to crack off and fall from the powerhouse.
The employees manning the dam watched as their worst nightmares began to coalesce. It started with a groan. A groan that stretched into a scream. And then the cracks began to appear in the long surface of Hoover Dam. Fissures took shape as the concrete was rattled beyond its limits to endure. And then just as suddenly, the earthquake stopped.
"What the hell?" Superwoman asked in outrage, "Why didn't you blow the dam?"
"It's blown," Major Disaster assured her, "It's already leaking. Now the water pressure from Lake Mead will push and push until the cracks blow apart and the swell surges free and clear onto the folks downriver."
"But why…?" Superwoman still didn't understand.
"This way the people on the dam have a chance to escape," Major Disaster explained, "Despite my name I don't enjoy killing people. Enough people are going to die today. We don't need to kill everyone."
The dam began groaning again and more cracks could be heard forming. Superwoman smiled, "Okay. I believe you. You did good."
"So we can leave now?" Disaster asked hopefully.
"No, now we run interference while the Justice League tries to stick their finger in the dyke." Superwoman grinned.
"Great," Major Disaster muttered morosely.
Tessa looked over at Claire. Claire was on loan to STAR Labs from LexCorp. Booster had made enough snarky comments about Claire "working for the enemy" to last a lifetime. He'd finally learned to shut up after she threatened to dump his judgmental ass. Now Booster was copacetic with Claire's choice of employer.
She'd been called in to advise on a nanotech project that Tessa was in charge of. The nanoprobes were designed to be cancer hunters but so far the only thing they ate was arterial tissue. Which was a really good way to get someone to quietly bleed to death.
The Brotherhood of Evil had struck without warning. The Brain seemed to be searching for something, several somethings, actually. He and Gizmo were taking the place apart. When they found something they wanted, Mammoth lugged it to their original transport site while his sister, Shimmer, called in a retrieval.
Phobia had most of the south wing terrified of their own shadows. Houngan was rifling through the cybernetics labs. Warp, well no one knew for certain what Warp was up to. He just seemed to be standing guard in the hallway "disappearing" anyone that tried to get past him. Mallah doted on the Brain as always and acted as the runner between the tech wizards and Mammoth and Shimmer. That only left one psycho bitch loose.
Tessa had grabbed all the engineered prototypes as well as the backup drives. If the Brain wanted the nanoprobes, he'd either have to search the database or kill her. She assumed he'd prefer the latter. Claire had pitched in and they had divided the equipment in half.
Right now, though, they were trying to work their way around Warp. They'd accessed a secondary lab through an interconnecting door but the Frenchman was standing between them and the emergency exit.
"Listen, you take everything and run for it while I distract the guy in the tights," Tessa decided.
Claire shook her head, "I'll stay. You go."
"This is no time to be heroic," Tessa argued.
"I think you're killing your entire point," Claire countered.
"Look, my lab, my sacrifice," Tessa asserted.
They heard the door cycle and they froze. Goldilocks rounded the table and wore a predatory smile as she spotted them, "Poor bunnies. Did we forget the security cameras?"
Tessa summed up the situation with a singular phrase, "Oh shit."
The teleporter brought Luthor's team inside the estate walls but outside the manor house. Armed guards immediately responded. Luthor turned to Giganta and nodded.
She doubled her height and towered over the guards. They opened fire and Giganta began to protest, "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow!"
She redoubled her height. Now the bullets were barely felt, "Ah, ah, you shouldn't have done that."
A Range Rover squealed into the area. Two Land Rovers accompanied it. More guards jumped out of the Land Rover and opened fire. Tala waved her arm and an iridescent light filled the air in front of the Legionnaires. The bullets struck this area and simply vanished.
Two guards came out of the house. One manned the passenger door of the Range Rover while the other stood vigil by the door. Luthor turned to Dr. Polaris.
"Ditch the vehicles," he ordered.
Polaris smiled as he stretched a hand out. All of the vehicles lifted into the air and then crumpled. They dropped back to the ground while the guards sought cover from the falling metal.
The Crimson Queen appeared in the doorway and Luthor gasped. She was more radiant than ever. And she was carrying a toddler. His son.
She retreated into the manor house. Luthor swung into action, "Tala, you're with me. Dr. Polaris, do what you want with the guards. Just get them out of the way."
Polaris chuckled as he shredded the vehicles and impaled the guards with the shrapnel. Luthor and Tala moved forward and reached the door. They stopped at the door jam as bullets flew their way.
"Can you dispose of them?" Luthor asked.
Tala smiled. A mischievous twinkle was in her eyes, "Of course."
She recited a chant and the gunfire ceased. Luthor eyed her, "Do I want to know?"
"Probably not," she bubbled.
"Where's my son?" he suddenly inquired.
Tala whipped her finger around in a circle. An image appeared in the air. The Crimson Queen stood near a massive bed. On it sat her son.
"Take me there," Luthor instructed.
It took Tala a moment but she prepped the teleportation spell and whisked them in the bedroom. The Crimson Queen cried out and her faithful Captain of the Guard from her days in Bailya burst into the room. Tala was under pressure and had no time for finesse. When she reached and pulled back towards herself, she literally pulled him inside out. He lay in a heap with all of his tissues and organs exposed.
"What are you?" the Queen asked in horror.
"No one to be trifled with," Tala warned.
"I think you know why I'm here," Luthor said gravely.
"No!" the Crimson Queen protested, "You can't have him!"
"I don't want him alone. I want you to come as well. To be his mother," Luthor countered.
"I'll teach him to hate you," she vowed, "With my last breath I'll curse your name."
Luthor swung a pistol he'd hidden behind his back and shot the Crimson Queen in the forehead. She fell lifeless to the floor. Luthor regretted the waste of it all but not the deed itself.
"It seems you predicted your fate," he commented.
Luthor holstered the pistol and scooped up his son, "Hello El-Faddil. My little Alexander. We have a world to conquer and a dynasty to found."