4 Justice League Twice Shy
At the USMS HQ in Arlington, Virginia Mr. Terrific was assisting the Marshal's Service with tracking down the Legion of Doom's mole. In the operation involving the transport of 12 Legionnaires, all 94 US Marshals had been given different plans for the transport and the routes to be used. Only the Director, the Deputy Director, and Mr. Terrific himself knew all of the actual routes, times, and modes of transportation. Yet, all of the trains had been hit but none of the mobile prisons had been touched.
No one Marshal had possessed all of the train routes or times. Only the aforementioned people had that information in its totality. Mr. Terrific was on his way to confront the two Directors when they intercepted him on the Operations floor. They were flanked by armed Deputies.
"Well," Director Goodfellow said, "it seems we have our traitor."
"Don't be ridiculous." Mr. Terrific countered, "You were infiltrated long before I arrived."
"That's not a denial." Goodfellow rebutted, "Do you deny being one of the few people alive that possessed the necessary information to pull off these break outs?"
"No." Mr. Terrific replied, "But you and Deputy Director Blakely also had the data at hand."
"Yes, but it was your compatriots that performed the actual jailbreaks." Goodfellow retorted.
"Allegedly." Mr. Terrific reminded him.
"As allegedly as your betraying the Service." Goodfellow sneered, "Deputies, arrest this man."
The three T-spheres hovering at different corners of the room swooped in on Terrific. The Marshals drew their sidearms. Mr. Terrific vanished in a flash of light.
"Put out an APB on Mr. Terrific." Goodfellow ordered, "Alert the FBI. I want him drug into a federal holding cell even if it means kicking down the doors of the Hall of Justice."
"I'll handle that personally." Blakely informed him.
That went well, Goodfellow thought as he returned to his office. He'd been in Luthor's employ for some time now. He'd been promised the Directorship of the ISA, in addition to large sums of cash, in exchange for his cooperation. He'd been wondering who to pin the rap on when Mr. Terrific presented himself as the perfect patsy. Now Goodfellow was free and clear.
He chuckled to himself, "Here's to the future."
Mr. Terrific reappeared in the Hall of Justice. There, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawk, and Dove were in a Javelin shuttle preparing to surrender themselves to the International Security Agency. Dove wasn't implicated in the break outs but he wanted to go along to defend his brother.
Plastic Man's team, acting as liaisons between the League and the ISA, were entrusted with escorting the more powerful heroes in. Hula Hula was beside himself with confusion over how the ISA could think that the summoned JLers could be criminal conspirators. Penny was distraught over the whole affair. Even the normally buoyant Plas was unusually grim.
"I'm really sorry about this, Superman." He said, "I honestly don't know what they expect me to do if you or Wonder Woman decide to make a break for it. Hawk or Dove I could handle but I don't know if I can take both of them at the same time."
"Well, I speak for all of us when I say you won't have to find out." Superman assured him.
"Sez who?" Hawk growled, "Let em try and stop me."
"Ease of the throttle, Hawk." Dove advised, "Plastic Man is only doing his job. If you want to clear your name you'll cooperate."
"I don't have to like it." Hawk snapped.
"No one wants you to." Dove assured him, "We just want you to be less…cranky."
Hawk calmed down quite a bit, "Don't you mean 'bellicose'?"
Dove grinned, "See? Going to college has improved your vocabulary. You'll need it as a Criminal Justice major."
"So I can turn over my reports to a prosecutor like you?" Hawk sharply inquired.
"I'm still only pre-law." Dove reminded him, "I'm not a lawyer yet."
"Ah hate to interrupt," Penny drawled, "but our shuttle's been cleared for flight. Our preflight checks are done so we're lifting off."
"Harrumph." Hawk grunted, "We who about to die and all that."
"Don't be so grim, bro." Dove exhorted him, "We'll pull your cantankerous butt out of the sling yet."
"Yeah right." Hawk grumped as he boarded the shuttle.
As the shuttle lifted, Kara watched it depart from the flight lounge. Beatriz, Tora, Mary, and Courtney came up from behind her. Mary put her hand on Kara's shoulder, "What's wrong?"
"They just took Clark and Diana off to be interrogated by the ISA." Kara miserably informed her.
"Interrogate…like in criminals?" Mary was confused.
"The ISA has witnesses that say that they saw them break Legionnaires out of prison transports. They're being treated as suspects." Kara revealed, "They're having Plastic Man bring them in."
"Oh my gosh!" Mary was stunned, "How can they think Clark or Diana could do such a thing?"
"Like I said, they have over a dozen witnesses." Kara elaborated, "One of the Marshals was killed by whoever was playing Superman."
"There's no guesswork there." Bea said, "We all know who did that."
"Exactly." Kara agreed, "But convince the ISA of that."
"Look, I still have friends in Brazilian Intelligence and law enforcement. I could have them look into the ISA's case and they could tell us how strong it is." Bea offered, "We could always exploit any holes that it has once we know what they are."
Kara viewed Bea in a new light, "Y'know, I think I've been wrong about you. I just thought you were a man eater. I never knew you were so…clever."
Bea grinned, "I hide it well. Makes people underestimate me."
Kara looked over the lot of them. They were all in civilian clothes and they were headed out. Kara couldn't help but ask, "Where are you going?"
"We're going to Bloomington, Minnesota!" Mary enthused, "To the Mall of America!I've been there before but not in the last couple of years!It's going to be wonderful!"
Kara looked at the excited teen, "What's with her?"
Bea sighed, "L-Ron made us espressos. She's lactose intolerant so she had to have Café Americanos but she had six of the bloody things in twelve minutes. To make it worse, she's never tried coffee before.
Kara winced, "Ouch."
"Oh!It's wonderful stuff!I feel so tingly all over!No wonder Uncle Dudley always drinks so much of the stuff!I need more!" Mary rattled off at lightning speed while she stood there shaking.
"No!" Kara and Bea yelled together.
Mary went quiet for a second and then she started babbling to Tora and Courtney. Tora was patient with her and tried to decipher what she was saying. Courtney just stared at her, transfixed in horror.
"Mind if I tag along?" Kara asked.
"Of course you can come." Bea smiled, "You can keep Ms. Caffeine out of trouble."
"How are you planning on getting there?" Kara said, "From what I know, you've never flown that far and Tora doesn't fly at all."
"We're taking one of the new Orb-14 shuttles." Bea explained. The Orbs were designed along the lines of a van sized Volkswagen New Beetle. It had the same basic dome-like appearance but it was stretched lengthways to accommodate 8 passengers.
"Are you rated to fly one of those?" Kara warily asked.
Bea was offended and huffed, "I got cleared by Blackhawk yesterday."
"Good enough for me." Kara admitted, "I'll take Mary to the back of the shuttle and keep her there."
Bea breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks."
"No problem." Kara grinned, "I'll go collect her now and give Tora a break."
"Good idea. Courtney looks like a cat ready to jump out of its skin." Bea observed.
"Well, Mary will be separated from her by a row of empty seats and she'll be wearing a crash harness to keep her locked into place. That should keep Courtney happy." Kara opined.
"She'll be able to remove the harness once we reach our cruising altitude." Bea reminded Kara.
"Not if no one tells her she can." Kara suggested.
Bea wore a devilish grin, "Good point."
"Shall we be going then?" Kara asked.
"Of course." Bea confirmed.
At the Dome, Luthor was finalizing plans. The Crimson Queen and her escort arrived to confer with him. Her guard consisted of Black Adam, Jack O'Lantern, Owlwoman, and the Little Mermaid.
Brainiac allowed them entrance once Luthor authorized it. He and the Queen retired to a private room. In her absence, Jack muttered obscenities and Owlwoman tried to calm him. Black Adam took pity on him and fished a jumpdrive out of his belt.
He handed it to Ulla, "Here the information that you require. With it you can seek a cure for your condition."
"Bu…but how…?" Ulla stammered in surprise.
"Let's just say someone alerted me to your plight and I've taken steps to help you." Adam explained.
"Thank you so much." Ulla hugged him.
Adam endured the hug and then replied, "I could do no less."
Jack and Owlwoman were surprised by the display and then Ulla whispered an explanation to them. Jack went to Adam and shook his hand. Owlwoman responded with a kiss on the cheek. Adam blushed and reiterated the fact that it was nothing.
The Guardians began to plan. They would make a bid for their freedom, one way or another, even if they died in the attempt. They couldn't bear the Crimson Queen's yoke much longer.
In Luthor's private office, The Queen got straight to business; "Have you made progress?"
Luthor chuckled, "Brainiac has managed to reset the launch codes to all of the missiles linked to computer networks. This includes most of the silos in the US and Russia. We've prepared a special positron pulse that will neutralize all the remaining bombs. I've also invented the elusive missile defense shield that has repetitively escaped the American and Russian development efforts."
"I thought the Russians weren't developing a missile shield." The Queen smirked.
"Despite the official line, they are." Luthor informed her.
"And how does this positron pulse work?" the Queen wondered.
"It essentially neutralizes the electron emissions in radioactive material." Luthor boasted, "Of course, it only works on processed plutonium. This means it will shut down nuclear power plants, and naval ships, as well as weapons of mass destruction. An inconvenience to be sure. The world powers will have to decide what is more important when they process more plutonium: power or bombs? A new arms race or electricty for their citizens?"
"And submarines?" the Queen asked with relish.
"Will be immune." Luthor answered, "The pulse isn't strong enough to penetrate water or create property damage either. Humans will experience a second of mild pain as will animals but there will be no lasting repercussions beyond the loss of processed nuclear material."
"It sounds wonderful!" the Crimson Queen enthused, "When can you begin?"
"The middle of next week." Luthor informed her, "Say Wednesday. It will take that long to train your technicians how to set up the missile defense points and for your forces to deploy them."
"And how will you mass produce the units?" she wondered.
"Your fabrication plants have already done so." Luthor smiled smugly, "It was part of the Dome's allocation of parts. They are producing the positron devices even as we speak. Unfortunately, the positron pulse emitters are a one shot weapon. The nuclear powers will find a way to shield their nuclear material from a second strike within weeks. So that avenue will be permanently lost to us."
"That is unfortunate." The Queen agreed, "But we should be in place by then. Let the world dare lift a finger against us."
Luthor's smile was warm, "I like the way you think. Shall we toast our endeavors so far? I have non-vintage Krug champagne. The grape mix is stronger in the non-vintage."
"Excellent." The Crimson Queen agreed, "A perfect way to end the evening before I retire."
"Indeed." Luthor opined as he retrieved the bottle from the wine rack located in a temperature controlled closet. Setting two glasses down on the table, he popped the cork and poured the drinks. He sat down and lifted his glass, "To us and our joint projects."
"Yes," the Queen slyly smiled, "to us."