14
The Earth Prime Justice Leaguers that had escaped captivity at the hands of Earth-3's Alex Luthor Peace Corps had hidden away at the Power Posse's strip club in Suicide Slum, Metropolis. They'd been there for three days and never ventured downstairs where the "action" was. Mary was still having nightmares over her doppelganger's live sex show with her own brother.
Max Lord had been contacting his counterparts across the globe. The Crime Syndicate had developed quite a network of sycophants before either departing for Earth Prime or being executed by Luthor. Max had learned there were only three other Syndicate related teams left out in the great wide world. So he persuaded them to attend a very private meeting on neutral ground.
Max approached Anna Fortune after he'd made the arrangements, "The meeting is set. We'll be meeting in the Owl Nest. After Owlman's death and Luthor's absorption of Thomas Wayne's companies, no one watches the manor anymore. At least overtly. But my sources say they never discovered Owlman's secret lair. Wayne was used as a demonstration that no one was safe from prosecution."
"Oh really? There was an actual trial?" Anna was skeptical.
"He was drug out into Gotham's main square and shot in the head," Max informed her, "For the public that was trial enough."
"In my day a lynch mob formed to enforce mob justice when civil society appeared to break down," Anna recalled.
"Lynch mobs?" Max couldn't believe it, "On high and mighty Earth Prime?"
"I've been doing research into my doppelganger's life while you've been busy. She never made it out of the Reconstruction South," Anna shared, "She fled the mob like I did but unlike me she was caught and hung for murder."
"Murder, huh?" Max smirked while his eyes glinted with a devilish look, "I knew there was a reason why I liked you."
"And Suzie Dibney adores you despite knowing you had her husband killed," Anna forcefully reminded him, "I don't think it's advisable to cross her especially since I've given her a useful widget called a 'testicular perforator'. Oh, and I've sealed off her mind from your particular 'knack'. Cross her and you'll end up with a new outlook on life."
"You...you're very persuasive," Max took a step back.
"Just remember that the next time you try to apply your mind control talent on my people," Anna advised him.
"What mind control, talent?" Max bluffed.
"The one you tried to apply to persuade Katana to remove her sword from your throat and later tried to convince Mary Marvel to perform onstage with Mistress Mary and Billy," Anna listed the occasions, "Surely by now even you have come to realize we're all immune to your gift."
"But think of the receipts I could get with those three onstage together!" Max greedily implored her, "Having a brother-sister sex act sells to the perv crowd but throw in another twin 'sister' and I'd rake in a fortune!"
"You are truly a blight upon the face of humanity," Anna observed.
"Thank you," Max happily accepted the condemnation as he swelled with pride.
"When do we meet with these supposed Syndicate groups you've been boasting of the last few days?" Anna knew by now Max Lord was completely beyond saving.
"On Sunday night," Max told her, "Friday and Saturday nights are my cash cows but we close for Sunday and Monday."
"Only because your headline talent would eviscerate you if you didn't give them at least two days off," Anna dryly remarked.
Max chuckled, "I take it my doppelganger on your Earth is like me."
"Prettied up for polite society but still a soul of avarice lusting for wealth and power," Anna described "her" Max.
"What kind of club does he run?" Max wondered.
"Our Max Lord owns and runs a multinational corporation, a leading innovative foundation, and is an ambassador to the United Nation on behalf of the Justice League Unlimited," Anna rather enjoyed explaining all of that.
"God, I feel so pathetic," Max lamented.
"You should," Anna quipped.
"But that's all about to change, isn't it?" Max decided to rub in her face.
Now Anna felt rather pathetic.
The Owl Nest was accessed through a hollow tree that hid an elevator that descended to the caves below Wayne Manor. The trees on the acreage surrounding the Wayne estate were filled with owls. Due to lack of access, each exit being near an owl nest, bats did not inhabit the caverns below.
The elevator was small, only able to carry in two at a time so the Power Posse came into the Nest rather slowly. The JLU was surprised by the vastness of the cave network under the grounds. Only Anna knew the true differences between the Owl Nest and the Batcave. Fate had urged her to use her scrying stone to observe Earth Prime's primary heroes in action and at home before joining their ranks.
"It seems we're the first to arrive," Max said happily.
"Hardly," a voice said from one of the vast array of shadows.
"Dick Grayson, I presume?" Anna knew the voice.
Dick dropped out of a cluster of stalactites. He dressed as a bat. But as a very different bat than his Earth Prime counterpart's mentor.
"Hi, Dicky!" Tiffany Olafsdottir ran to him.
Dick caught her arms as she tried to embrace him, "Someone tell her I'm the Bat."
"Aw, Dicky," Tiffany pouted, "Haven't you missed me?"
"I seem to recall you and your icicle daggers trying to skewer me, Tiff. That kills the mood," Bat warned.
Tiffany shrugged, "What can I say? Lovers quarrel once in a while."
"Not today," Bat said dourly.
"Indeed," the Martian said as he became visible.
"Eek!" Tiffany shrieked as she ran to hide behind Mistress Mary.
"I cannot read the minds of your newfound companions, Max," the Martian declared, "That disturbs me."
"They're immune to my little trick as well," Max warned him.
"Who are you people?" the Martian demanded to know.
"You already know who we are," Mary Marvel declared, "Because it's obvious I'm not Mistress Mary. So where could we have come from, I wonder?"
"Damn straight you're not me," Mistress Mary snorted.
"Which universe do you hail from?" the Martian inquired. His people had been well versed in the knowledge of the Multiverse and its myriad forms.
"The Prime Universe," Dr. Mid-Nite shared, "And in it you're a friend named J'onn Jonzz."
"Do not speak that blasphemous name to me!" the Martian roared, "J'onn Jonzz died on Mars. I am simply a Martian with no name."
"And one who brought allies with him," Katana pulled the SoulTaker free of its sheath.
"No!" the Martian ordered her before turning down the route the Owl Plane used to exit the caves, "It is all right. You may show yourselves. They are not from Apokolips."
Four people in various states of costume stepped into the light. They were all familiar and strange at the same time as the Martian made introductions, "This is Syndicate America. Superwoman did not trust me so I was denied entrance into the Crime Syndicate. Yet they enabled me to recruit a team and act as their enforcers in America."
"These is my team," the Martian said proudly, "Or at least the surviving members. Meet Gypsy Rose, Criminal Steel, Vibrator, and Mari McCabe."
Tiffany, Suzie, and Mistress Mary all began snickering when Vibrator was introduced. Suzie's eyes watered as she declared; "Now girls, he may become our new best friend."
They laughed all the more after that. Vibrator's face turned crimson and he looked the Martian. The Martian nodded.
Vibrator bowled them all over with a vibration shock wave. Mistress Mary was the first up and poised for an attack but Max intervened, "Now isn't the time, Mistress Mary. You all wanted a demonstration of his abilities and you got one."
More newcomers had silently arrived through the woodland elevator approach, "It seems we can never gather around your group, Max. Fights always break out," Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi proclaimed, "And you seem to be missing three members since our last hurrah. Even more for you, Martian."
Dr. Hoshi took in the sight of the JLers, "They're definitely not from around here."
"They are from the Prime Universe," the Martian shared.
"The one Superwoman, Ultraman, Power Ring, Atomica, Sea King, and the Other all fled to?" Dr. Hoshi was intrigued, "Maybe they can autograph a road map and we can all leave this godforsaken Earth."
"They may yet indeed," the Martian concurred.
"So the rumors of Luthor capturing an Ultraman lookalike are true," Dr. Hoshi realized, "I hear they also have an ersatz Johnny Quick."
"Let's just nuke Luthor's building and call it good," Captain Atom's counterpart requested.
"Maybe after we make our introductions to the newbies," Dr. Hoshi introduced herself and then listed off her companions, "Animal, Corporal Atom, Crimson Vixen, Ultra Girl, and Rockets all make up Syndicate Europe. Rockets serves as our liaison with the Russian Mafia."
"This only leaves one more group to join us," Max announced.
"They have been here for quite some time," Judomaster informed him.
"Arrow, feel free to join the rest of us," Max proclaimed.
A younger, clean shaven Green Arrow led a troupe of villains nearly as large as the rest of the groups combined. Bat rejoined his team. Which Arrow told everyone was the Syndicate Task Force.
"The Task Force was a mobile squad tasked with eliminating any opposition deemed too great for a regional Syndicate team to deal with," Arrow recalled the group's history, "We also owed our primary allegiance to Owlman since he was the heir to Ra's al Ghul and took both of Ra's' daughters as his wives. His widows have used us ever since Owlman's death to secure Nanda Parbat and liberate Central and Southeast Asia from Luthor's Peace Corps."
"Now learn our names and tremble," Arrow pompously declared, "First are my right hand, the Bat, and my left hand, the Canary. Then I am honored to lead Bloodwynd, Damage, Dolphin, Geist, Public Menace, Lionhearted, Maya, Mystakill, the Ray, Seneca, Thunderhead, Defeat, and Loose Cannon."
Mary almost had a heart attack upon the Ray's arrival. Dr. Mid-Nite pulled her away from the group, "Easy Mary, he's far from being our Ray Terra."
"I...I know," Mary trembled slightly, "But just seeing him again...it's like ripping open a wound all over again."
"I forgot this type of reunion wasn't only possible but probable," Dr. Mid-Nite mentally kicked himself, "I'm so sorry for not warning you."
Mary numbly nodded, "I'll be okay, really."
"Are you sure?"Dr. Mid-Nite probed.
"If Anna and Sonia can hold it together while Al and Hank are held prisoner I can definitely put up with working beside my dead boyfriend."
Katana and Judomaster knew that Thunderhead was the doppelganger of Earth Prime's Thunderbolt. Peter Cannon had been trained to the height of human mental and physical perfection. Yet he rarely operated as a costumed adventurer. He was on the JLU's reserve list alongside such masked men and woman as the Crimson Avenger.
Anna knew Bloodwynd was a necromancer. Just as she knew Damage was the actual grandson of Al Pratt, the man Al Rothstein had been named for. Damage internally generated increasing amounts of energy that needed to be released periodically or it would burst forth on its own and destroy entire cities.
Judomaster knew Earth Prime's Damage before he died. He'd been her first love. Although she reacted more stoically than Mary, her internal conflict and pain over seeing Damage was just as great. In her universe Damage had been summoned back to the creation by the Source who utilized Damage's power to ignite the Big Bang that created the multiverse. However, it had been a one way mission for Damage. Judomaster could only wonder why her Damage had been chosen rather than another universe's.
Katana recognized Geist. He shared the name with an Earth Prime vigilante. Geist turned invisible in bright light and showed up as a hazy image in dim light. Lionhearted was a copy of Lionheart and shared in his battle armor and energy sword. Maya also copied the Prime Universe's doppelganger Indian origins and elemental powers.
Public Menace appeared to be Earth-3's answer to Joe Public. Presumably he shared the ability to siphon off powers and abilities from those nearby him. Judomaster and Katana knew the unassuming "male" Mystakill was a woman in a suit of mechanized armor like Earth Prime's Mystek. And once again, she presumably shared the abilities to harness quarks and access and manipulate any computerized machines.
Anna was familiar with Seneca's history. The super strong Native American had represented his tribal group on the world stage on Earth Prime. Here it was obvious he only represented himself. Anna was also familiar with the alien origins of all versions of Dolphin. If history ran similar to Earth Prime's then this Dolphin had been Earth-3's Sea King's lover for at least a time.
Defeat was a doppelganger of Triumph. Triumph had used his electromagnetic powers to thwart one of Brainiac's attempts to destroy Earth Prime. He'd given his life doing so. It was obvious looking at Defeat that no such sacrifices would be coming from him.
Loose Cannon was dually named on Earth-3 and Earth Prime. A blue skinned version of Blockbuster, his strength also grew exponentially in relation to his rage. On Earth Prime, a movie had been made about Loose Cannon but they changed the color of the skin to green and made him a nearly mindless "hulk" like Blockbuster in order to avoid lawsuits.
"I'll let the Martian fill you in on the background of our esteemed guests," Max proclaimed to the group, "I'm certain he understands it all better than I do."
The Martian gave a curtailed description of the multiverse aided intermittently by Dr. Hoshi. Then The JLers gave very curt introductions of themselves. Revealing little more than their names and the existence of their captive teammates.
"Let me get this straight, you all came to our world and most of you got captured by Luthor. Now you want us to band together to bust your friends out?" Defeat sneered, "Good luck but you're on your own."
"We are offering you a chance to overthrow Luthor and dismantle his alliance with Darkseid," Katana replied, "We will affect our comrades' rescue ourselves and then help you neutralize your enemies. If this does not appeal to you, you can leave now."
"See ya!" Defeat catcalled.
"Don't move an inch," Arrow warned him, "I'm interested in what they have to propose and so are you."
Defeat chafed under these orders but he knew better than to leave.
"Together you can overwhelm Luthor's Peace Corps and Darkseid's forces currently occupying your world," Dr. Mid-Nite used a bulletin board to jot down basic notes, "So far, your lack of cohesion has worked in the enemy's favor. Keeping you fragmented and disjointed keeps you off balance and weakened."
"What makes you think we can accomplish this?" Dr. Hoshi inquired.
"I was a physician before donning this mask and cape. Biological defenses are only strong when they work together. Isolate each part of the defense and the virus wins. We need to be that virus."
"So you're suggesting we pick off parts of Luthor's defense and then overwhelm with our combined forces," Arrow understood the principle, "Then we topple him."
"And throw him right out a window," Damage growled.
"This isn't our world so we mustn't judge or interfere with native justice," Katana explained, "What you do with Luthor, and your world after he is deposed, is entirely up to you."
Judomaster noted that Mary looked stricken, "Is there a problem?"
"We're just going to let them kill Luthor and take over the world?" Mary wondered.
"It is their world," Judomaster explained to Mary again, "We are strangers here."
Mary was still troubled and Judomaster stepped aside, "Only you can reconcile this within yourself."
Mary noticed Anna was merely observing while Katana and Dr. Mid-Nite did the actual presenting. Mary wanted to protest, "Anna, we can't let them go out and kill everyone in their path. They'll tear this world apart trying to decide who the eventual ruler will be."
"Max has already won that fight," Anna told her, "Only the Martian can resist him. All the other dissenters' will to resist will be crushed the moment after he seizes power."
"But he's a sleaze!" Mary wanted to shout, "You've seen what he does for a living."
"And what would our own Max Lord be if he'd had more competition and fewer advantages?" Anna posed the question, "Max Lord is an amoral man on any Earth. But he can also unite this world in a way no other can. He just asks to be properly compensated for his efforts."
"This is what you bartered away for his help," Mary realized with horror, "Isn't it?"
"We lacked any other currency," Anna's eyes narrowed, "So I parlayed using Max's own ambitions against him. I simply showed him he could stretch his dreams beyond Metropolis."
"You have us playing king maker?" Mary was aghast, "How could you?"
"What are we doing in regards to Maxima? Everyone else is in agreement with what I've done. We left you out of the proverbial loop in order to spare your sensibilities," Anna shared, "And it's called survival. We required both shelter and assistance. We acquired both. Now we're preparing a last ditch effort to liberate our friends. Afterwards, whether we've succeeded or not, we will depart this universe and never set foot here again. Unless of course, some of these cretins decide to cross over to our world as well."
"That's cold," Mary accused.
"I'm sorry," Anna honestly admitted, "But sometimes your brand of warm and fuzzy gets people killed."
"So you think Al might be dead?" Mary asked.
"I certainly have to entertain the possibility," Anna replied, "I truly hope none of our merry band has been killed but it's a potential fact. I can't face the thought of living my life without Albert Rothstein beside me but if that fate confronts me again I will carry on."
"The Civil War!" Mary blurted, "You lost someone then, didn't you?"
Anna nodded, "Very astute, Mary. I lost my first love in that conflict. A man I had grown up adoring. He died in the first action between the North and the South. The Confederacy took Ft. Sumter but I lost the love I'd pledged myself to as he rode off to war. But that was only the beginning of losses endured during that wretched conflict. Even after the war, I lost my entire family. So I dread the loss of Al in my life but I know with dead certainty it's a specter over everything we do here."
"Everyone thinks you're so complicated. But you're really not a mystery," Mary stated, "You just want to get everyone you love and care about along with everyone under your protection out of any given conflict or crisis."
Anna's eyes danced with delight but the lower half of her face was obscured by her mask. But her laugh lines demonstrated her joy, "Excellent observation skills. It is little wonder Shazam has begun to think of you as his finest pupil despite originally thinking of you as an unnecessary addition to the Marvel ranks."
"But..." Mary began but Anna shushed her.
"They're choosing a campaign leader," Anna informed her, "Now it gets interesting."
Arrow, Dr. Hoshi, the Martian, and Max all nominated themselves. The first round of voting revealed Dr. Hoshi didn't enjoy enough support to stay in the running. The second round eliminated Arrow. He scowled at the apparent dissension within his own ranks.
Max took the Martian aside for a conference before the third vote could settle matters. They returned to the center of the room a moment later and the Martian announced, "I concede to Max."
"And I appoint the Martian my deputy," Max generously announced a second later, "Arrow you will lead the Syndicate Task Force in drawing out Darkseid's troops. Dr. Hoshi will lead the Syndicate Europe in support of your action."
"And where will you be?" Dr. Hoshi asked a little too sharply.
"The Power Posse and Syndicate America will be headed off to cut the head off the beast," Max shared, "Our target is Alex Luthor. Once he's dead, the Peace Corps will either surrender en masse or die as well."
"And if they don't lie down?" Arrow wondered, "How do you plan to kill a million men and women in uniform?"
"They will roll over," Max assured them all, "I can be very persuasive when I want to be."
"And what about them?" Ultra Girl pointed at the JLers.
"They'll find their people and get out of our way and our universe," Max promised.
"And what about the rumors Esak found two more like Ultraman?" Arrow asked.
"We'll deal with rumors made fact when we confirm them," the Martian interjected.
There was widespread grumbling over that. Max distracted everyone, "Bat, break open the pantry and get everyone fed. And concentrate on coffee and tea. We'll all need it while we hammer out the particulars of our raid on LexCorp."
Mala lifted her head off of Superman's lap and slurped up the excess saliva hanging from her lips. She wore a sultry smile as her naked body mounted him, "Nice and ready now."
Mala reveled in her activity while Jax-Ur glared from behind a two way mirror. His mood soured further as Mala settled into a rhythmic piston action, rising and falling on Superman's lap. Disregarding that he had seen this same scene nearly one hundred times before, he turned away in disgust.
Desaad chuckled from beside him, "It must be difficult for you, knowing you are both impotent and sterile when your race needs repopulating."
"It wasn't the Phantom Zone that made me this way, was it?" Jax-Ur asked for the first time.
Desaad wore a canny smile, "No, it wasn't. The Kryptonian Council neutered you well before your sentencing to the Phantom Zone. But they curiously didn't do the same to your lieutenant."
"She wasn't condemned to a life in the Zone like I was," Jax-Ur told him, "They intended to reintegrate her back into society."
"Had your society survived," Desaad needled Jax-Ur, "It's a difficult thing to do when you're dead."
Jax-Ur grabbed the New God's throat and lifted him into the air. And then he began to apply real pressure. Desaad pulled a disc off of his vest of tools. Using the ring on it, he slipped it onto his hand. He grasped Jax-Ur's arm. The Kryptonian cried out in agony and released Desaad.
Jax-Ur charged Desaad and Desaad applied the disc to the General's forehead. He drove the Kryptonian leader to his knees, "Keep in mind all the things we have planned for Kal-El can be applied to you as well."
Mala screamed in orgasmic pleasure and the mirror shattered. It had been replaced dozens of times now. Desaad had begun to wonder why they maintained the pretense of privacy.
Mala crushed her lips against Superman's, "Thank you, lover. I'll go see if I've conceived yet."
Her cheeks and most of her body was flushed as she reached the door. Turning back, she smiled, "By Rao you know how to exceed a woman's expectations."
Outside Mala faced down Desaad, who practically drooled at having a naked woman in his midst, "He almost broke the restraints this time. It's only a matter of time before they give out."
"I'll attend to it immediately," Desaad assured her, "We can't have any interruptions in your carnality. Don't forget to report to Esak. His tools will determine on whether or not there is new Kryptonian life developing in your womb."
"General?" Mala asked Jax-Ur's permission to excuse herself.
It warmed his heart, "Don't forget to dress this time."
"Yes sir," Mala said crisply as she headed off to the guard's locker room.
"Mind lending me a hand?" Desaad inquired of Jax-Ur, "This will be easier with your strength and, after all, we should both be mature enough to let bygones be bygones."
"Very well," Jax-Ur grated knowing full well neither man would ever forget.
But he also knew Desaad didn't wear his vest full of torture devices twenty-four hours a day.
Luthor had built Commander Tusk a command center from which he could monitor the movement of the Elite throughout Earth-3. He was there monitoring several developing events when Kalibre joined him. Tusk knew the assassin had to be bored on this planet.
Soldiers from the Lowly class kept watch on various monitors as Commander Tusk motioned for Kalibre to join him at his dais. Once there, Kalibre could see Cyborg-87 was fighting beside Peace Corps troops in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Commander Tusk looked mildly amused.
"Someone has been equipping the local forces with weaponry nearly as deadly as our own," Tusk informed Kalibre, "Whispers of a 'League of Shadows' and their minions float in the wind throughout the region. I informed Luthor it was time to finally burn out the resistance. Fortunately for him, he agreed."
Kalibre pointed at one screen in particular, "What is their assignment?"
Tusk peered at the screen and saw Kalibre's daughter and Brola leading more Peace Corps troops, "Buna is leading a force in clearing out Paris. They've been hosting more Crime Syndicate acolytes. This pack calls themselves the Syndicate Europe. Frankly they have survived at my indulgence for far too long."
"Where have you sent the Gravi-Guards?" Kalibre wondered.
"Detroit," Commander Tusk pointed at a location on a holographic globe, "Another Syndicate group has been spotted there. Led by the last surviving Martian of all things."
"And I presume another Syndicate group has been spotted operating across Asia," Kalibre guessed.
"Precisely," Commander Tusk knew that fact wouldn't escape Kalibre.
"You know that all of these reappearances can hardly be coincidence," Kalibre warned his field commander.
"I wouldn't hazard that they were," Commander Tusk assured Kalibre.
"So how does the pacification go elsewhere?" Kalibre wondered.
"These humans received us like conquering heroes when we broke the Crime Syndicate's back," Tusk chuckled, "But now that they've begun living under Luthor's yoke, they've begun to stir once again."
"So bring in a legion of parademons and slip the leash on them before they become a nuisance," Kalibre suggested.
"Once we conquer this planet outright we'll begin force breeding those with the meta-gene and use the rest of the population as slaves," Commander Tusk smiled, "Mala delivered today. She conceived quintuplets and Esak removed the developing zygotes and waited until the egg properly divided to place them all in the artificial womb tanks. Once he applies a little forced growth, we should have teens ready to deliver to Granny Goodness' orphanage."
"How did she take this?" Kalibre wondered. A volatile Kryptonian could prove dangerous.
"She gleefully had Esak force her body to generate another egg and modify it for twinning and happily scampered back to the detention level to rut with Kal-El;" Commander Tusk was amused, "Esak said she was the most delighted brood mare he'd ever beheld."
"What do you think she'll do when she learns Darkseid has ordered that all of her offspring are to serve him?" Kalibre wondered.
"She'll rebel," Commander Tusk speculated, "But General Jax-Ur is her weakness. We control his fate and we've mastered hers."
"Someone has to be gathering the Syndicate sycophants," Kalibre steered the conversation back to its beginning.
"Reports have filtered in that a flesh pedaling club here in Metropolis was actually the hiding spot for a quasi-independent group calling itself the 'Power Posse'. Communications logs prove their leader had been making inquiries across the globe," Tusk revealed.
"They mustn't be much of a threat if the Crime Syndicate ignored them," Kalibre ventured.
"Quite the opposite I fear. My impression from the remaining prisoner is that they feared the Power Posse," Commander Tusk saw Kalibre's skepticism, "Ask any of Luthor's Peace Corps where the Power Posse or their so-called club are located and none of them can ever recall seeing it. They remember being on the very street it's located on and none of them can ever recall seeing that building. I dispatched a Peace Corps team there hours ago and they reported the location did not exist yet our network of informants verified it stood right in front of the befuddled Peace Corpsmen."
"Mind control," Kalibre realized.
"At least one individual seems to have this ability to cloud minds," Commander Tusk elaborated, "Now imagine if their range doesn't stop at the gates of this city. What if they have a global reach? And what happens when they decide to push the general populace against us?"
"Then you'll finally have the war you wanted," Kalibre expressed the idea.
"I shall indeed," Commander Tusk was very pleased by this possibility.
Hawkman strained with all of strength of might and will. Finally the chains securing his manacles to the wall snapped. Next he took hold of the prong forked spears pinning his wings to the wall and yanked them free.
Resting, he still couldn't believe his captors sought to taunt him by placing his helmet in the room with him. Only a fool kept a Thanagarian's mask with him. Even if that Thanagarian was the result of six thousand years of reincarnation.
Keeping the two spears handy, Hawkman crouched next to the door and waited. He'd observed a regular foot patrol checking on each cell in regular intervals. They had just left when he began his escape. They were due back any minute now.
Carter Hall heard the door lock cycle and he rose and limbered up his legs while keeping a spear in each hand. The first guard rushed in and Hawkman stabbed her in the chest as she swung around to face him. Next he rushed out into the corridor. He stabbed the spears back behind him as he did so.
He pulled and the spears yanked out of the guards chests. Now came the tricky part. He had to neutralize the last guard without him getting a shot off first.
Using the spears as batons, Hawkman knocked the guard's gun loose and then he twirled a spear in midair and plunged it into the man's heart. He left that spear where it was as he gathered pistols. Tucking three in his belt and wielding the fourth, he still retained the other spear.
Pulling the guards' access card from the door's lock, he set out to free his teammates.