Roll Call
Queen Audrey: Formerly 'Princess'. Now Queen. Called the League for help with a domestic terrorist group. Epically terrible taste in men. Currently in way over her head.
Wally West aka The Flash: Brilliant forensic scientist. Advanced scientific degrees and law enforcement experience. Can also run really fast. Justice League pretty much only cares about the last part.
Mari McCabe aka Vixen: Former supermodel. Current superhero. Can channel the powers of any of the 9 million animal species on earth, but usually ends up switching between the same five. Recently broke up with Green Lantern. More recently enjoyed a brief moment of passion with Vigilante before breaking his heart. Even more recently stabbed, shot, and left for dead by Queen Audrey's duplicitous security advisor, Diric Chenkev. Last seen being nursed back to health by Greg Saunders.
Greg Saunders aka Vigilante: Former Special operative, current taciturn member of the Justice League. Manages to pull off the 'desperado' look, somehow. No superpowers, but pretty useful in a scrap all the same, especially with his twin revolvers. Has the hots for Vixen but atrocious timing.
Diric Chenkev: Duplicitous Chief Security Advisor to Queen Audrey. Jason Statham-ish vibe. Extremely proficient in all forms of combat, particularly bladed martial arts. Last seen killing Mari McCabe and ordering the massacre of an entire village.
Michael Holt aka Mr. Terrific: Fifth or sixth richest man on earth, depending on how the Dow Jones is performing. Jack of all trades, master of. . .all of those same trades. Basically an analytical genius who serves in a mission control capacity for Justice League missions.
John Stewart aka Green Lantern: Earth's designated Green Lantern. Bearer of powerful energy ring, even more powerful scowly eyebrows. Recently rekindled a relationship with Hawkgirl after Vixen (kind of) dumped him. More from him soon.
Shayera Hol aka Hawkgirl: Fierce Thanagarian warrior, founding member of Justice League. Wields an incredibly powerful Nth metal mace. More from her soon.
Sofia: Young Naedi orphan taken in by Queen Audrey after saving the lives of Audrey and Wally in an attempted assassination. Unorthodox combination of high street smarts and low emotional intelligence.
Ilyentov
Royal Palace
"Come in," Audrey was saying. "We were just talking about you."
Wally stood just outside the portal of the double doors leading into Audrey's council chambers. Diric had returned, in the flesh. No Vig, no Mari. His heart was racing right into fight or flight, launching a surge of supercharged adrenaline through his veins. There were three others in the room- two men and one woman. All had short, close-cropped hair and wore the insignia of the elite Royal Guard. The same uniform Diric wore. All were armed, though their weapons were in holsters or slings.
He stepped inside and Diric closed the door behind him with an ominous click.
"I was just telling her highness about the exemplary performance of your teammates in the field," Diric said. "You meta-humans are certainly a breed apart. Thanks to their efforts, we were able to pacify a key terrorist stronghold. Although. . ." Diric's voice trailed off toward a more somber tone. "There was significant loss of life on the part of my men. Nearly a hundred killed by those savages. It is regrettable, but then again without the help of Vixen and Vigilante the entire task force might have been wiped out."
Audrey chimed in, "Wally is concerned, understandably, about the whereabouts of his compatriots. They have yet to check in with either him or the Justice League headquarters."
Diric made a dismissive hand-waving gesture. "I'm sure they'll be here in no time. Perhaps they decided to enjoy each others' company a bit before returning." He chuckled. "I can't be the only one who's noticed the sparks flying between those two."
Audrey nodded thoughtfully. Wally said nothing, his mind still racing. Just how full of shit are you, Diric Chenkev?
Diric clapped his hands together, not noticing or not caring that Wally had failed to utter a word. "At any rate, we must begin to make plans for the future. More missions will be needed, naturally, to disrupt the terrorist infrastructure. My men already have several raids planned in predominantly Naedi neighborhoods as well. Now we can report the success of the Guinsluv operation at the Freedom Day ceremony, which should allay the felt tensions of our loyal citizens somewhat."
"I'm sorry," Wally said, stepping forward. Freedom Day?"
"It is one of our national holidays," Audrey supplied. "Though I have not been as enthusiastic a celebrant as my father."
Wally was barely paying attention. He was looking at her but darting his eyes back to Diric every other picosecond. The other man was preternaturally still, his face impossible to read. For some reason that more than anything was setting off every alarm bell in his head. What he wouldn't give for a bit of the Martian Manhunter's telepathy right about now.
"It's not that there's anything wrong with celebrating the end of Soviet annexation," Audrey was saying. "It's just over the years it became more an expression of exclusionary ethnocentrism. The proxy government, for all its fault, had tirelessly suppressed anti-Naedi sentiment. Like pulling back a spring. Once that leadership dissolved. . .I'll give you an example. Ten years ago, an anti-Naedi riot led to forty-seven deaths. All Naedi."
"Which was regrettable," Diric interjected. But Freedom Day remains a cherished cultural tradition. Which is why the Queen has agreed to host an official commemorative gala."
The look on her face sad it was a longstanding disagreement between them. "That was before the bridge bombing,"
"And now this country needs a reminder of its heritage and traditions more than ever," Diric smoothly riposted.
Audrey said something back but Wally didn't hear a word of it. The communicator in his ear had just crackled to life, and what Mr. Terrific had to the rest of the world to a whisper.
"Wally we got the satellite data back. It's fragmentary cuz frankly they got cell phones with better cameras than these ancient piles of scrap metal I had to hack. Plus the weather is going nuts down there for some reason. Freak snowstorm or something. No way to make out individual features or details. But a mass execution? Shows up like Christmas lights.
Wally's jaw clenched. "What do you mean, Diric?"
"Huh?" Diric said, puzzled.
Mr. Terrific, the true target of the comment, let out a very un-heroic expletive. "Wait, is he there in the room with you?" Jesus Wally, his guys let loose a massacre. Visual data says as many as two hundred people marched to the edge of the village and shot dead. Whatever's he's told you is bullshit. And that's not even touching on Vig and Vixen-"
"Yeah, I know," Wally said, his pulse quickening even faster than usual, blood roaring in his ears. He'd heard enough. Strike quick, strike hard. He thought he had the element of surprise.
He was wrong.
He turned to charge at Diric, only to see that—impossibly- Diric's sidearm had already cleared its holster. The reports of the other man's weapon firing sounded like snaps of lightning in the room. There were two rounds already in the air.
Wally had never encountered a quickdraw that fast. It was all he could do to whip his body out of the path of the incoming bullets, even with his preternatural reflexes. The world slowed down into a slow-motion dreamscape, the only things moving at any appreciable speed being himself and the bullets. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Diric's subordinates just starting to reach for their weapons. Behind the desk, Audrey's eyes were widening, her mouth inhaling in preparation for a scream.
The bullets kept coming. High-velocity rounds, spaced in such a way that the only way to completely avoid both was lurch backward and to the left, completely upending his center of gravity. He summersaulted backwards and came to his feet in the literal blink of an eye. Whoa, Wally.
He charged aiming his fist back as he did so to knock Diric into next Wednesday. The first sound waves of Audrey's scream hit his eardrums, but he blocked it out. Diric's henchmen were still struggling to find their aim, so they didn't matter either. All that mattered was Diric.
Diric continued to fire, but without the element of surprise his rounds were easy to avoid. Wally bobbed and weaved and at the last moment batted the gun out of Diric's hand in an invisible blur of motion.
Then the pain. Exquisite and excruciating. Exploding down low, beneath his right knee. The joint buckled and the incredible stressed of speed and force sent Wally twirling like a top into Audrey's desk, his head slamming the protruding upper rim.
He blacked out, only for a second though it felt like a lifetime. When he came to, the world had resumed its normal pace. And the situation had fundamentally changed.
Diric's left hand held a gun that was pointed at him. A different hand and a different gun than the one he'd first used. The barrel was still smoking. The bullet, Wally realized with horror, had gone into the ground, after tearing through his knee. Even at super speed, he had failed to spot the threat
The other guardsmen had their weapons out. Safeties off. All pointed at the queen.
The entire fight, from the moment Wally had sprung into action, had lasted less than two seconds. Faster than the human eye could follow. The frenzy had left a gust of displaced air in its wake, sending papers and folders flying into the air. Audrey was still screaming even as she worked to process what had just happened. Not that it lasted long- the female guardsman stepped briskly around the desk and rammed the butt of her submachine gun into Audrey's solar plexus. With a pained oomph, the queen fell back into her seat.
"Don't bother calling for the guards," Diric said matter-of-factly. They are all loyal to me." He turned to Wally. "And I'll have that communicator in your ear, if you please."
Wally stared at him defiantly. "Why don't you come and take it."
"Because that would be boring," said Diric. "How about this: I start slicing the skin from Audrey's bones until you comply. She won't die, though she'll damn sure want to. Is that more acceptable?"
"Diric have you gone mad?" Audrey whispered.
In response, he holstered one of his pistols and came away from his belt with a wickedly curved knife. The blade was so sharp it seemed to sing as he twirled it by the handle between his fingers. It was mesmerizing, like a dancing cobra. Until he brought it down on her hand in blur of motion.
"NO!" Wally screamed, lurching at Diric from across the room. He made it one step. The second, on his wounded leg, sent him careening at high speed into a bookcase on the far wall. Volumes of antique books rained down on his head.
"Relax," Diric said, conversationally. He wedged the knife back out from the worn wooden surface where it had been embedded just between the queen's splayed fingers. Audrey, ashen, had managed not to scream. Barely.
He held up the knife for Wally to see. "No blood. This time. The next demonstration she gets a surgical extraction without the benefit of anesthesia. I need you- both of you- to understand that the situation has changed and your only option is complete compliance.
Wally met Audrey's eyes as he struggled to his feet. The pain radiating from his ruined knee forced him to lean on the bookshelf for support, but he still stood as straight as he could.
Audrey, meeting his eyes, gave a slight nod.
Diric's mouth curved into a cruel smile. "Excellent. Now. . ." a turn to Wally, "the communicator, if you please."
Eyes blazing, Wally assented. He picked the communicator out of his ear and flicked it with superhuman speed at Diric. More a show of defiance than an honest attack, though Wally could still scarcely believe his eyes when Diric caught it, the small device making a thppt sound as it smacked right into his upraised palm.
"Nice reflexes," Wally muttered.
Diric chuckled. "Nothing like yours, of course. But then, I've learned it's not about reflexes when dealing with you metas." He twirled the communicator between thumb and forefinger for a moment before crushing it to bits in a closed fist. "I mean, take you for instance. Faster than me by a factor of what? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? No way to beat you to the punch. It's just not physically possible. I have to think ten moves ahead of you. The race, it happens right up here." He tapped his temple. "In the mind."
With that said, Diric produced a pair of handcuffs. "Not that I'm in any mood for a rematch. So if you would go ahead and cuff your hands behind your own back I'd appreciate it." His convivial tone was belied by the gleaming, unwavering metal blade he held a mere muscle's twitch from Audrey's flesh.
Asshole, Wally thought. Which didn't make the words any less true. He'd been any idiot, trying to take Diric head-on like that. And even after Terrific had warned him. If anything, the League's mission coordinator had undersold Diric's skill set. Having seen him in action, Wally found it far more believable that Diric could have gotten the drop on Vixen. . .
Mari! His head shot up with a start. "What really happened to my teammates?"
"I was wondering when that would come up," Diric replied. "To be honest, I was surprised you didn't go with the strike force as originally planned. Made things a bit more complicated, I must admit. I thought we'd be having this showdown days ago, up in the mountains."
"You're not answering the question."
"Yes he is." Audrey's voice was trembling. "Look at him, it's obvious. He killed them."
Diric rolled his eyes. "Well, Vixen, yes." His hand went to the side of his face, and the fresh set of scars that had yet to fully heal. "Gave me a nice memento to remember her by. Requiesce in pace." He paused. "That's her, anyway. The cowboy was actually stupid enough to get caught by the K'Naedi." A chuckle. "At least Vixen died quickly. I'm afraid the hospitality of those savages is considerably less. . .merciful than mine."
"You won't get away with this," Audrey seethed. Her eyes went to three other traitorous guardsmen. "None of you will-"
The woman soldier stepped forward in fluid move and backhanded Audrey mightily across the face. "Shut your damn mouth. Your highness."
Diric's sly smile only widened. "Nina here's been waiting years to do that, I imagine." He turned to Wally. "But enough prattle. It's time to go."
As they were led out of the room, Wally managed to whisper into Audrey's ear: "Where's Sofia?"
And if possible, her face fell even more.
As it happened, Sofia was picking flowers when they came for her.
It had become a daily routine for her. In the tunnels beneath the city, the only flora were of the fungal variety. The royal gardens, by comparison, flowered in ways too beautiful to describe. Even in the wintertime, thanks to the surrounding greenhouse panels. It was the same technology used in the Gardenia facility, but at a much smaller scale. The entire plot was arranged in spiraling rows of bushes nearly five feet tall. Along either side sprouted roses, hydrangeas, orchids. . .all with fancy names written on cards held up by metal lawn darts.
The bushes were what mattered today though. They were what saved her life.
She was enjoying the haunting, spidery tendrils of the Ghost Orchid when she heard the soldiers. Two of them. Which was already. . .wrong. The soldiers never came here.
So her mind went into analysis mode. Detached, calculating. First observation: they were not here to sightsee. She couldn't see them over the hedge walls but she could hear it in the cautious way they moved, in the metallic moving parts of their unholstered weapons. They were hunting.
Inventory: Not much. On the streets, she typically carried a knife or three, a habit she was beginning to wish she'd maintained since coming to stay at the palace. She wore jeans, sneakers, a simple blouse, and an insulated jacket with a hood. She had a few loose coins in the jacket, as well as a phone and a keycard for access to electronic entryways within the palace. The keycard had a lanyard which might be useful, but otherwise she was sorely lacking for weapons.
"Little girl," one of the soldiers called in a singsong voice. A budding actor, he was not. If she wasn't convinced before, she knew now that the men bore harmful intentions. She thumbed the phone on and sent out a quick message to Audrey: Guards are hunting me- is everything alright?
Sofia moved low to the ground, below the sightlines of the advancing guardsmen. Surreptitiously, she plucked one of the lawn darts from the soil. The metal was surprisingly strong, which could be useful. Especially since it looked like the soldiers were splitting up and smartly positioning themselves at the garden's exits.
"We know you're here little girl,' the same man was saying. "Come on out now."
Not likely. The nearest guard was now about ten meters away and closing. So Sofia took out a one euro coin and tossed it over the hedge at her back, in the direction of stone fountain. It impacted with an unmistakable clink and she heard grass rustle as the nearby soldier whirled in place.
There was silence for the space of a heartbeat. Then the telltale chatter of a suppressed submachine on full auto. The gunfire ripped into the fountain, reducing the stone to rubble and tearing through the surrounding plant life. Some even tore through her makeshift hiding place, sending stinging nettles into her cheek.
"Idiot!" Yelled the soldier's partner, the one near the exit.
"Diric said to kill her if she gives us too much trouble. I don't know about you but I have better things to do than hunt down some little Naedi bit-"
The epithet died in his throat with a strangled gurgle as Sofia struck from behind. She'd taken the metal lawn dart and bent it around her fingers above the first knuckle. The pointed end was looped halfway back around but was extended between her middle and fourth fingers. From garden implement to makeshift shiv. And Sofia had just driven the four inches of protruding metal high into the guard's inner thigh with all the force she could muster. The guard roared in pain and squeezed the trigger of his MP5, it's barrel inches from her face.
You're out of bullets, asshole. Sofia didn't wait for the click, her hand instead brushing the guard's grenade belt as she twirled just out of his reach and darted around the corner of another hedge.
"I'm going to kill you!" The burly, red-faced man was screaming.
Sofia opened her palm and looked at the pin she had just pulled from one of the grenades on his combat rig. No, you won't. She dove to the ground, facedown, eyes shut, and hands over her ears.
BANG! The guards weren't carrying fragmentation grenades, but rather the non-lethal variety colloquially referred to as flashbangs. Sofia knew enough to recognize it, but was still shocked by the force and fury that accompanied the explosion. Even prepared, she was stunned by the concussion wave emanating from the point of detonation. The poor soldier had been thrown like a rag doll smoke rising from his leg and torso. Not dead, but possibly shattered eardrums and burned retinas on top of the physical damage. For all intents and purposes he was out of commission.
HIs partner was radioing in. Straight to Diric. "Sir, there's been a problem with the girl. We went after her in the garden but she's hiding and I think she just took out Mischa."
Diric's voice crackled on the shoulder mounted radio. Loud enough for Sofia to hear. "Even the bloody Naedi children have nasty surprises up their sleeves. I'm sending backup. Don't bother trying to get her alive. Kill her on sight."
"NO!" The voice- Audrey's voice- cut through Diric's over the radio. "You bastard she's just a child!"
Audrey's a captive! Sofia realized. Diric had somehow betrayed the queen and taken command. Which meant she had to escape the grounds now. Nowhere in or near the palace was safe.
There was still the matter of the remaining guardsman. He was a bit smarter than his partner, moving with sufficient stealth that Sofia had a hard time pinpointing his location. He was on high alert and she doubted she would have much success circling around behind him.
She tossed another coin hoping for the same misdirection that she had used on the first guard. Whose gun she was beginning to wish she'd grabbed.
Suddenly, a burst of gunfire, three rounds shredding through the hedges just a foot from where she crept. She let out a small, almost imperceptible gasp. But it wasn't imperceptible enough she knew. Three more rounds tore through the space she had previously occupied. One grazed her arm. But she was already in motion, sprinting back to the fallen guardsman, stealth thrown to the wind. She heard more bullets whizzing through the air around her head and dove at the last second in an ungraceful heap by the unconscious figure. Her enemy came around the bend then, her first time seeing him in person. Medium height, close cropped blond hair, and a sinister sneer He was adjusting his aim to tear her to bits.
Sofia had no such luxury. She grabbed the first soldier's submachine gun from his lifeless fingers and prayed that he'd had enough time to reload. Otherwise, she would be met with the same dreadful click of an empty magazine before she was killed. She rolled with the gun cradled near her midsection and held down the trigger, practically firing blind. It was the Hail Mary to end all Hail Marys.
And it worked. The second soldier hadn't been expecting return fire at all. So his precious seconds lining up a shot were for naught. An MP5 empties its thirty-round magazine in less than two seconds, which meant that Sofia had already hosed her weapon before he could fire his. She'd tried to aim for his torso but her aim was off by enough to merely cut his legs out from under him.
Sofia watches, heart pounding, as the man went down, his weapon falling to the wayside. He wasn't dead, but just like his friend he would be incapacitated for a good long while.
So she dropped the gun and ran for the exit. Toward the uncertain fate that lay beyond the palace walls. And though she neither believed in the god of the Orthodox Christian faith or the gods of her ancestral home, she offered a prayer for the only Kasnian who had ever shown her kindness
Ilyentov,
Kasnian Royal Palace
Council Chambers
Audrey and Wally were marched nearly half a kilometer from the Audrey's office to the larger council chambers. Their cuffs had been altered so that they were cuffed together, allowing Wally to lean on her for support. Diric had allowed him to crudely bind his knee with strips of torn drapery, but he was in no condition yet to walk. Audrey and Wally led the way, Diric and his lieutenants in the rear. As they walked through the halls and the inner rotunda, Audrey noted none of the guards posted were familiar or friendly faces. None would even meet her eye.
He's done it, she realized, her heart sinking. He's launched a bloody coup.
She turned to the Flash, who was clearly in pain and trying not to show it. His arm and some of weight was on her, and she was surprised by how human he felt in the close proximity. Superheroes had this way about them, of seeing so much larger than life. But here, in even in these dire circumstances, he seemed not so much larger than life as a part of it. Of hers. Somehow, that thought comforted her.
"They didn't get Sofia," Wally said. The first murmured words of what had otherwise been an uncharacteristically silent walk.
Audrey squeezed his left hand which was draped over her shoulder. "Nor shall they. She's a resourceful one," she replied with more bravado than she felt.
Behind them, Diric let out a low, ominous laugh. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about your own skins than that of some filthy little Naedi."
"You might take your own advice," Audrey shot back. "Or have you forgotten how I deal with treason?"
He seemed amused but didn't bother to reply. They had reached the council room and he stepped around to the front, pushing the doors open to the wide multi-tiered space. Automatic lights hummed on and the screen at the far end of the room. It was turned off but a series of red flashes on a nearby panel told Audrey that she was being continually hailed via video call.
She gingerly allowed Wally to take a seat in one of the chairs. As he did, she heard the stifled grunt of pain. The hasty dressing he'd been allowed for his leg wound was already soaked with blood and it had been a woefully inadequate measure in the first place. While Diric fired odd instructions to his underlings, she knelt by the speedster her eyes searching his. "I'm so sorry, Wally. I-"
"You have nothing to apologize for," he said firmly. "No sense dwelling on what we could have or should have done. We need to-"
"Enough!" Diric nudged Wally's leg, practically a love tap but given the grievous injury it caused the superhero to double over in pain. "Audrey, I'll need your fingerprint and retina scan to activate the secure diplomatic line."
Glaring, Audrey rose to her feet. "Well, now I know why I'm still alive," she muttered.
Diric shrugged. "Or I could have just taken an eyeball and a thumb. Left the rest of you in the river. . ." he trailed off, as if he still hadn't made up his mind on the matter. "But believe it or not, your highness, my quarrel is not with you."
"Then with whom? What can you possibly hope to achieve?!" She demanded.
A wicked glint entered his eyes. "Like I told your illustrious guest, all in due time. Now, the control panel please. The Justice League has been trying to hail you on the secure line for the past half hour and it would be rude to keep them waiting."
Audrey grudgingly complied, activating both the retinal and thumbprint scanners in the control panel. The screen wall immediately came to life in four separate blocks with the largest national and international twenty-four hour news stations broadcasting in each one. They all bore variations of the same story, the same shocking news. Diric seemed practically giddy with excitement. With a tap of his fingers he enlarged the CNN live feed and activated the audio. A breathless anchor with silver-blonde hair was delivering the stunning turn of events:
"Shocking, breaking news out of Kasnia where just ago rebel separatists detonated multiple explosive devices under the capital city's iconic Queen's Bridge. Today, cell phone video emerged from a research facility called the Gardenia near the capital city of Ilyentov. In it nearly a dozen armed men can be seen taking scientists hostage. The fate of the individual who took the video is unknown, and the attackers have since disrupted the transmission. Scattered reports are still incoming, but we have no reports of an active police or military response at this time. Similarly, there is no word yet from Kasnia's Office of National Security. The Justice League, which is believed to have their own forces currently in the region, has declined to to comm-"
Audrey's eyes were practically bugging out of her head. "What the hell did you do, Diric?"
"Actually, it's what the K'Naedi did. Or haven't you been watching the news?" Diric seemed endlessly amused. "What's it like to be utterly clueless, so fantastically unaware of the machinations going in within your own country?" He paused. "Don't bother to answer, it's a rhetorical question. Anyway, it's time to have a chat with some superheroes" He strode to the control panel and tapped a series of prompts on the touch screen.
The images of news reports disappeared. In their place, some of the best known faces on the planet: Mr. Terrific, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Question.
Diric's smile had reached Cheshire-like proportions. "Hello Justice League. Shall we talk?"
Watchtower
Justice League Headquarters
Minutes earlier
"So that's about the gist of it," Mr. Terrific was saying. Which seemed a hugely anticlimactic conclusion to the disturbing video and audio he had just shown the assembled Leaguers.
John and Shayera sat side by side in the conference room. The former's eyes were blazing with green energy, his jaw set in a fiercely determined profile. The latter, sitting conspicuously close, still had a hand over her mouth in horror. They were the only two original members of the League in attendance. Wonder Woman was in Atlantis, negotiating a treaty with Aquaman on behalf of Themyscira. Superman had traveled to the Krypton asteroid belt- a personal mission to search for remains of his lost civilization. The astronomical distances involved necessarily meant infrequent contact. J'onn was taking personal time as well, planetside with his human wife.
So it was newer members who completed the circle. Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Question were all present due to the rank that they had achieved in their time with the League. Like Shayera and John, they were mortified at what Terrific had shown them.
First, the satellite imaging. Grainy, stilted. . .but crystal clear where it mattered. The images showed Diric's men conducting a mass execution of civilians. After an altercation with Vixen that had, presumably, led to her death. Then he played the audio from his interrupted conversation with Wally. Suspicion giving way to abrupt violence, ending in Wally's defeat and the destruction of his communicator.
John was the first to speak, his gravelly voice roughened by anger. "I'll take command of the first wing of Javelins," he said. "At top speed we can be there before sundown."
"Wait, John." Shayera beat Terrific to the punch by a millisecond. She steepled her fingers. "We can't rush in blind. We still have no idea what's going on."
John shot to his feet. "We know enough, dammit! Mari, wounded or dead. Greg, AWOL. Wally, AWOL. Queen Audrey-"
"No longer AWOL," Black Canary finished startled. She was looking at the holographic comm display where a persistent 'null response' icon had been flashing. Repeated attempts to contact Audrey on her secure private line.
So they were all caught off guard when the call actually went through.
The video materialized. Audrey was there all right. She looked terrified. And it wasn't her face in the center of the screen. It was Diric Chenkev's.
"Hello, Justice League. Shall we talk?"
Mr. Terrific, closest to the screen, cleared his throat. "We only speak to the Queen on this line Mr. Chenkev."
"Please. It's Diric."
"Very well, Diric-"
"And you talk to me now. There's been a bit of a regime change here." He raised a conspiratorial finger to his lips. "We're not telling people yet, so try to keep it quiet, yes? The lovely ex-Queen would very much appreciate it." The words dripped with menace. "For that matter, so would your colleague."
He stepped back to reveal a Wally who had surely seen better days. Bruised, bound and seated. And without the devil-may-care grin he usually wore, even in the direst of circumstances.
Someone just outside of the frame held a gun to his head.
The intake of air in the room was palpable. Even the normally unflappable Terrific found himself temporarily lost for words.
John, barely containing his fury, spoke first. "Well congratulations, Diric, on becoming the League's new number one priority. You have no idea what you just stepped in, son. All of our resources will be brought to bear. You just stared into the abyss, asshole, and you can bet it's staring right back. So if I were you I'd run and pray to every ancestor you got that I'm not the one who finds you."
Diric blinked. "Wow. Bravo, very intimidating. You Leaguers really are different breed. And the Green Lantern. I've heard stories about you. Bet you have criminals wetting their pants all over the solar system. The power you wield, that you all wield." He threw up his hands in a mock gesture of placation. "I have no desire to take you on, which is why I've taken this opportunity to establish a dialogue."
"Dialogue," Green Arrow repeated incredulously. You attack our emissaries, hold a gun to the head of a founding member, and you call for dialogue?"
"I'm afraid you don't have much choice," Diric replied. "Because I will kill the Flash if I so much as spot a smoke trail from one of your Javelins. Thanks to the Queen, I am now also tapped into all of the country's satellite infrastructure. Any incursion via teleportation will be dealt with in the same way. The Flash will be publicly executed as a spy, but not before his secret identity is revealed to the world. I'm sure Captain Boomerang and Mirror Master would love to chat with the family members and loved ones of this man." Diric took a deep breath. "I don't bluff. But all that unpleasantness can be avoided. With dialogue."
Mr. Terrific spoke up. "So what do you want out of this? Why are we having this conversation?"
"Because Kasnia needs a course correction," Diric said. "A change in leadership if you will. And I need to ensure that there's no more interference from the Justice League. What happened with Vixen and Vigilante is regrettable, but then so is the fact that in your arrogance you deemed it appropriate to meddle in a sovereign country's affairs."
"So how does this work, long term?" Terrific pressed. "You can't hold Flash as a hostage forever. And it's only a matter of time before NATO forces pluck you right back out, assuming we don't get to you first."
"Long term, I want the same thing you do," Diric replied. "Peace and stability. I'll assume day to day executive control over the government until such time as regular elections." He paused. "I am no Vandal Savage. My ambitions are remarkably modest as a matter of fact. I have no designs on world domination. No annexation or expansion of any kind. All of these theatrics are solely about Kasnia, and putting the country back on the right track. The casualties thus far have been. . .regrettable. But with your cooperation there can be an end to the collateral damage. Audrey can live. So can your teammate. The alternative, I assure you, would be regrettable for both of them."
"None of which NATO will care about," Terrific observed. "
Diric chuckled. "Flash and the queen are hardly the sum total of my leverage. Suffice it to say that any meddlesome government entities will quickly regret their interference."
"Oh?"
"Because," Diric continued, replying to the unasked question, "I have control of the Gardenia."
"That's curious, because everyone seems to think it was terrorists."
"That they do."
"Sort of like the bridge bombing. . ." Terrific mused. He leaned back in his seat. "You're a real piece of work."
Diric leaned into the camera. "Oh, there's more to me than meets the eye. Same goes for the Gardenia because believe when I tell you that to call it a research facility does not do it justice. The Gardenia is so much more deadly than that."
"How so?" Black Canary wanted to know.
To which Diric replied, "You're the Justice League. You figure it out. And when you do, we'll resume our chat. In the meantime, I'd suggest you take a look another look at your satellites. Weather satellites this time."
Alarm bells started going off in Terrific's head. Something about the strange weather patterns observed in the Baltic region. Trivia that his perfect recall was now bringing back to the surface, stringing together in .a pattern with horrifying implications.
Diric gave a mock two-finger salute. "Until we speak again."
AN: The plot thickens! Next time- Vixen and Vigilante find themselves right back in the midst of danger when separatist forces led by Viktor himself arrive. Meanwhile, the League grapples with the revelation of the Gardenia's true, sinister purpose while Audrey and Wally work together to escape Diric's clutches. Should be fun!
As always, reviews are so much appreciated. I always love hearing what other JL fans think about my take on the characters from this amazing universe.
Til next time!
-C