I believe we have arrived at a highly anticipated mission! Enjoy!
The Future of Justice
Chapter 54: Mission
Oliver's Apartment:
Clark walked back in Oliver's (after a change in attire), both pissed and determined. This was evident as the team saw him appear. "What's with the face, Clark? We've won!" Hal said triumphantly.
Slowly, Clark shook his head. "No Hal…we've been fooled." "What are you talking about?" Jaime asked. With great difficulty, Clark kept his anger in check as he explained.
"We may have destroyed Amazo, but Brainiac himself is still out there. Our battle was just a distraction so that he could get Chloe's daughter, Chelsea." The entire team was immensely shocked by the revelation.
Clark went on to say how he found out about Chelsea's disappearance, and that everyone was taking it hard, especially Chloe. When he was done, the team was thunderstruck.
"Damn. That Brainiac is one clever bastard." AC cursed. "I'm so sorry Clark." Diana said, sympathetic. "We all are." Barry replied. "Me too." Jaime said. Batman and Hal merely nodded in agreement. Clark nodded back.
"I appreciate it." After a moment, he spoke more strongly. "There's no time to waste. We need to act now before things get any worse." At long last, Clark told his team why he called them all (even though Blue Beetle came on his own).
"I brought you guys together because the world is in great danger. A powerful alien warlord named Darkseid plans to reshape Earth into his own liking and to take humanity as slaves…and Lucas Luthor is helping him to do it."
If the team wasn't surprised before, they were now. Most of their eyes were as wide as can be and their mouths hung open (except for Barry and Jaime, since they already knew this). No one spoke as Clark continued.
"I know exactly how they plan to do this, and when. But before I explain, there is something we must do. Lucas hired someone called "The Key" to capture three other friends that we need to rescue. They are known as Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Cyborg."
"Wait, you know the Green Arrow?" Jaime asked. Clark nodded. "We've been through quite a bit together. They are being held somewhere in the Southern Andes mountains in South America. If we work together, just like we did against Amazo, we can pull this off. Will you help me save them, and the world?" he asked hopefully.
Batman answered first. "Count me in." "I'm with you also." Diana said, smiling. "Me too." Barry said. "If these slackers are going to be kicking some more ass, there's no way I'm missing out on any of it." Hal replied with a smirk. "You know I'm in." AC said. "So am I." stated Jaime.
Clark smiled at them all, swelling with pride. "Thank you." After a moment, he planned his move. "Okay. Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman…you're all with me to save Green Arrow and the others."
"What about me?" Jaime asked, stunned that he was not included in the rescue plan. Clark turned to him. "I have a different job for you Jaime, which is just as important as this one." Jaime then listened intently.
"I need you to track down Brainiac and bring Chelsea back to her mother. Can you do that?" Jaime smiled. "My scanners can pick up any readings, whether they are natural or technological. I should be able to find them no problem."
"Just what I needed to hear." Clark replied with a smile. But then he got more serious. "Listen, you need to be extremely careful. Brainiac is a very cunning and dangerous enemy; don't let your guard down for a second."
"Got it." But Clark wasn't finished. "That's not all. Once you get Chelsea, destroy Brainiac by any means necessary. Don't hold back; he can't be allowed to survive again. But most of all, don't let him touch you; he has a habit of downloading a part of himself in another computer system. Do you understand?"
Jaime felt nervous, but still willing to do it. "You can count on me Steel." he said proudly. Clark nodded. "Then good luck." With other wishes of luck from his new allies, Blue Beetle flew off to find Brainiac.
Once he was out of sight, Clark looked back at them. "Alright…let's head out." he said as he put his shades back on.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Unknown Location:
Lucas had smashed his fist on a desk in complete outrage. He was more pissed off than he ever was. 'First Clark busted out Chloe and her friends, then Cheetah got arrested, and now…Jarvis is dead! Is Clark connected to all of this?!'
He couldn't believe that how everything was starting to go wrong. Though Chloe being rescued by Clark was a blow, losing Jarvis was a much bigger one. He had a role to play in the plan on New Years, and now he's gone.
Darkseid was especially not pleased to hear the news when Lucas told him of Jarvis' death. "How did he die?" he asked, not sounding concerned of him at all. Lucas swallowed.
"According to the guards, Jarvis was monitoring the robots he sent to retrieve Chloe Sullivan and her baby. Next thing, they heard loud screaming from inside his lab. They ran in to his face charbroiled and his equipment all shorted out. They don't know how it happened." he finished nervously.
His master was silent for a moment. "I doubt he would be careless enough to die from a mere "accident"." "So do I. But now what? How can we finish the plan without him?" Lucas asked.
"It is of no concern; at this point, his assistance is no longer necessary. Jarvis has provided us with the technology we need to prepare Project Apocalypse." Lucas couldn't believe Darkseid brushed off Jarvis' death so easily; he didn't even care. Then again, he didn't really care for Lucas either.
"You have all the items that I asked you to procure?" Lucas nodded. "Yes, master. The Gauntlet of Heracles, the black diamond, and the replica of Kordax's hand are in storage until the day they are needed." Darkseid nodded.
"Good. Let us hope we don't suffer any more setbacks, Lucas…for your sake." The transmission ended. Lucas then made another transmission. Just then, a grey skinned man appeared. "Anything new, Key?" Lucas asked.
Key shook his head. "Everything is quiet; still no sign of Steel. But I imagine he'll be here soon to try to free his friends." "He will. Are you prepared for his arrival?" Key smirked. "Most definitely."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Southern Andes, South America:
Steel and the team arrived on the outskirts of Argentina, where the Southern Andes began. They all stood on a hill overlooking the mountain range. "So Green Arrow and your other pals are in those mountains?" Green Lantern asked.
"Somewhere." Steel replied. "There are lots of mountains in that range; they could be in any of them." Wonder Woman noted. "I'll run around them all to see if there are any entrances." Flash suggested, but Steel held him before he could take a step.
"Wait Flash; there could be traps at the spot where Key is. You may walk into any of them." Batman warned, and Steel nodded in agreement. "Then how do we…?" Aquaman began to ask, but Steel suddenly felt a painful headache as he screamed.
"Steel! What's wrong?!" Wonder Woman asked as Steel kneeled in pain. In his mind, Steel heard a voice with distorted images that tried to become clear. 'Kal-El…I'm here! I know you are…close! Hurry…!'
Steel then relaxed and breathed heavily. "What the hell was that about?!" Green Lantern asked, concerned. Steel then got back up. Not only did he fully recover, but he seemed certain about something as he pointed to one of the mountains.
"There! That's where we need to go!" Steel shouted. The others were completely confused. "That's Aconcagua, the highest peak in Argentina and in all of the Americas. What makes you think they are in there?" Batman asked.
Steel shook his head. "I…don't exactly know. But I do know we have to get in there." Though unsure of how he knew, the others didn't question him as they followed Steel toward Aconcagua.
Seconds later they were flying around the peak (Batman, Flash, and Aquaman were in a bubble by Green Lantern, since they were the only ones who can't fly, and Batman did not want to waste his plane's fuel).
Steel tried to see through the rock with his x-ray vision, but he couldn't; he realized that the most of the mountain was lead shielded. He tried his super hearing, but he heard no voices from inside either. These things proved that they have found the right place; they just needed to find a way in.
All of them kept their eyes open, and a safe distance, as they scanned for any sign of a doorway of some sort.
"All I'm seeing is solid rock." Green Lantern said after several passes around the mountain. As they flew around a rather large patch of snow near the top, Diana thought of something.
"Maybe an entrance is concealed beneath the snow?" Steel floated beside her, intrigued. "One way to find out." he replied, confident that she might be right. Once his shade lenses opened up, Steel fired his heat vision at the snow.
Slowly, the snow melted. As it did, Steel could see even more rock…but seconds later he spotted something else. "I see something!" he shouted to everyone as he continued melting the snow.
The others gathered around him as what he spotted came into complete view. A large metal door stood right beneath the top of the mountain. As Steel slowly descended to the door, he suddenly felt weak and ached.
He instantly backed away. "What's wrong?" Flash asked as he and the others floated next to him. Getting his strength back, Steel frowned. "He has been waiting for me; there are meteor rocks all around the entrance."
"Meteor rocks? Why would meteor rocks concern you?" Green Lantern asked. Steel sighed as he answered. "Those meteors that landed in Smallville…they are the only things that can kill me. I'd die if I'm around them too long."
He went on to explain that that is possible because they were radioactive pieces of his home planet of Krypton, which he called kryptonite. The team was stunned by this secret.
"Well then…let's clear them away. He did that to keep you out, but not us!" Aquaman said as the rest of the team landed near the door, while Steel remained floating. Within a few minutes, they all found all the kryptonite around and gave them all to Green Lantern, who threw them all quite a ways with his ring.
Thankful, Steel finally rejoined his team. "Thanks. That's better." They then approached the door. "Shall we knock?" Wonder Woman asked. Steel smirked with her as they smashed their fists in the door and ripped it out.
"Remind me to never get on their bad sides." Green Lantern whispered to the others, which made them smirk (even Batman). After throwing the door away, all the team began to walk in cautiously.
"Be careful; the Key may have some nasty surprises in here." As they moved through a metal hallway, Batman made a motion for them to stop. "See something?" Steel asked. Batman nodded as he pointed to ahead.
On the other side was an elevator, but along the way there were red lights glowing from both walls on either side, and they were in impossible to get past patterns. Batman then stepped as close as possible to the first set of red lights and took out a spray bottle of some kind.
Batman then sprayed it into the open air, and suddenly a laser appeared that connected the red dots on the walls. He turned back to the team. "Motion sensors; we touch these, and things might get hectic up here." Batman warned as the others grouped with him.
"Good catch, Bats." Aquaman said, impressed. "How do we get past them?" Wonder Woman asked. "I can just short them out with my trusty ring." Green Lantern said cockily. Steel was about to protest, but Batman beat him to it.
"Use your head for once, Lantern. The alarms will most likely go off if these sensors are tampered with in any way…unless someone hit's the "off" button." Batman explained. "This requires not super powers, but agility and careful hands."
"Agility and careful hands?" Flash asked. "Show him." Steel said confidently. Batman nodded and made his move. He jumped over the first set of laser sensors, and then he slid underneath the second set.
Using the skills of a expert acrobatic, Batman jumped and somersaulted past every single sensor without touching them. Once he landed gracefully in front of the elevator, he saw that his teammates were deeply impressed.
"I said it once and I'll say it again…show off." Green Lantern said, but with a look of admiration. "How do the rest of us get through?" Flash asked. Batman then examined the walls beside the elevator until he found a hidden latch and opened it.
He opened it to reveal a set of wires; one red, another blue, and a green one. Batman took out another gizmo from his belt and hooked it up to the circuitry that held the wires. "This is the part where the careful hands come in."
Batman punched in a few buttons on the pad he hooked up and after several seconds, a code appeared in green. At once, the red lights were deactivated. "We're good." Batman said as he put his pad away.
Impressed once more, the team met up with Batman quickly as he opened the elevator. "That was amazing! Where did you learn to do that?" Flash asked. Batman smiled. "Years of learning techno babble from very smart people." he answered.
"But won't the Key know that his sensors are offline?" Wonder Woman inquired as they all got into the elevator and the doors closed. "They were reactivated when the elevator doors closed. He still doesn't know about any uninvited guests."
"You continue to impress me, you know that Batman?" Steel asked. Batman merely smirked as the elevator descended.
A few minutes later the elevator stopped and the doors opened. They saw another hallway, and it was filled with cameras and two passages. The cameras kept moving from left to right and back. They stayed in the elevator to not be spotted.
"Think you can do your magic on those next?" Green Lantern asked. However, Batman shook his head. "Can't get close enough without being spotted." he grunted. Steel then turned to Flash.
"Flash, you and I are the fastest ones on the team; the cameras won't be able to notice us. We'll split up and search this place for anything that looks like a prison cell or a control room, then meet back here with the team. Agreed?" Flash nodded.
"On it." Flash said as he zoomed in one direction, while Steel took another. The others waited in the elevator for only 15 seconds before both speedsters came back. "Found anything?" Aquaman asked.
"This place is huge; most of the mountain must be housing this facility. I found more cameras and several doors in that passageway. Although, I didn't find anything that struck out as a control room. But I did find several doors that are security locked, and it looks like only the Key can access them."
"Fingerprint ID?" Batman asked. "Bingo." Flash confirmed. "A few of those rooms could be the ones where Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Cyborg are being held." Wonder Woman said to Steel with hope. Steel nodded too.
"I hope so." "Did you find anything, team leader?" Green Lantern asked. "Yeah; a big door at the end of the hallway opposite the one Flash took. But it didn't look like it and fingerprint scanner on it. In fact…there doesn't seem to be a way to open it at all." Steel answered.
"A door that won't open? Something pretty big must be on the other side." Aquaman said excited. The others agreed. "Let's take a look, and then we'll check the doors Flash found." "But what about the cameras?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Leave that to me." Green Lantern said as he used his ring on all the cameras in sight. His green energy was keeping them from seeing the direction in which the team planned to go. "That way, we won't be spotted and Key boy won't think of it other than temporary technical difficulties." he said confidently.
"Finally, you're using your head." Batman remarked as the team moved down the hallway Steel went through, with Steel leading the way. As they moved, Green Lantern halted more cameras to point away from them and let go of the ones that they passed once they were out of sight.
Finally, they passed all the cameras and made it to the big door. It looked like a door to a huge vault. Steel was right; there was no handle or keypad of some sort. It seemed like that whatever the Key put in there, he didn't want it out.
"Any ideas without giving ourselves away?" Aquaman asked. "There has to be a way to open it, otherwise the Key himself wouldn't have been able to put inside whatever he has in there." Wonder Woman rationalized.
Steel then came up with another idea. "Maybe it can only be opened from the inside." "And how do you suppose he opened it when he put his prize inside?" Green Lantern asked.
"Perhaps by remote control." Batman guessed. "Well, we don't exactly have one of those, do we?" Aquaman asked sarcastically. "We have something better." Steel said as he turned to Flash.
"Do you think you can vibrate through that door and open it on the other side?" After examining the door, Flash smiled. "I think I can manage." Once Flash got his whole body vibrating rapidly, he simply walked through the door.
"If I lose my house keys, I'll call him." Green Lantern joked. The team waited for a response. Sure enough, the huge door slide upwards. Flash stood there grinning. "Button on the other side, just like you figured." he stated.
"Good work Flash." Steel stated as he and the others walked in. "So what's in here?" Aquaman asked. Flash then turned to the center of the room. "Just…that."
What the team saw astounded them, even Batman. 'Oh my god.' they all thought as they stared. Hung by metal clamps that connected to the floor and ceiling was a green, humanoid shaped creature wearing dark blue spandex.
It was surrounded by a ring of fire around where his legs were clamped to the floor. It appeared to be weak and fragile, but alive; they could hear it breathing. The team didn't move any closer, not knowing whether or not it was dangerous.
"What the hell is it?" Batman asked, slightly unnerved. "Whatever it is, it seems to be in great pain." Wonder Woman noted by the creature's appearance. "The Key must be holding that thing for a reason." Flash said.
"Like what Scarlet Speedster, advertising Green Giant vegetables?" Green Lantern sarcastically asked. "Somehow, I doubt that bro. What about you Steel?" Aquaman asked.
Steel didn't reply as he continued to stare. He saw the creature's head move up a little and saw it's red eyes. It's eyes widened when he saw Steel and gasped. "K..Ka…Kal-El." it barely whispered.
The Kryptonian was surprised to hear his name from it. It spoke too softly for the others to hear, but thanks to his super hearing Steel heard it clearly. He immediately realized what, or rather who the creature was.
To the surprise and shock of the rest of the team, Steel walked up to the creature until his face was right in front of it's own. "J'onn?" Steel asked softly. His old friend nodded with a smile.
To be continued.
