"Okay then," Gear summoned a full holographic display of the abandoned factory Intergang was using to manufacture the Bang Baby gas. "What's the plan?"
"What are your abilities?" Icon asked the visitors, arms crossed.
"Miss Martian's and I's are more-or-less the same to the abilities Martian Manhunter and the Flash of this time," Wallace explained, gesturing to himself and M'gann. "Kaldur's abilities, however, are different from the first Aquaman."
"I have a similar degree of super strength to King Arthur but not his ability to telepathically connect to fish," Kaldur elaborated. "I can also generate electricity, and control and freeze water. In particular, my water-bearers allow me to create hardwater weapon constructs such as swords or maces. I can do larger constructs without them, but it takes more concentration than I can usually afford in an ongoing-fight."
Icon hummed, thinking it over. "Very well, here is the plan. Miss Martian, you'll go in first and do some reconnaissance. Tell us what's going on, the general numbers of the enemies, if there are any potential hostages — everything and anything that could possible be of value."
"Once you give us the clear, Flash will enter from the back and disable any and all security measures, and disarm the guards. Then together, you'll start capturing people so the police an arrest them. The rest of us will surround the building, blocking off all avenues of potential escape and capturing any stragglers." He glanced at Kaldur. "You, in particular, I would like to make an ice barrier surrounding the building. It's doubtful that anyone there has the power to take any of us seriously, but it is Intergang."
"No risks," Kaldur agreed.
"Is Apokaliptan technology really that bad?" Richie asked, a certain gleam in his eye.
"Yes," Wallace answered bluntly. "I know what you're thinking, Gear, but I strongly discourage going down that road. Without the right precautions, Apokaliptan technology can be corrupting. There's a reason why the Watchtower only integrates technology from New Genesis into their systems."
Richie's shoulders slumped, and Virgil gave him a comforting pat on the back. Wallace glanced at him, and sighed.
"But, if you want, I'll let you take a look at the Mother Box later before we send it off back to New Genesis," the speedster added. "No harm in that, as long as you don't activate it."
Raquel snorted.
The members of Intergang Did Not Like Dakota City.
They might have come from its dark underbelly, but in the end, there was a reason why Metropolis was considered by many to be 'the greatest city in the world'. Its streets were clean, its residents polite (even the criminals) and even the poorest parts of the city like Suicide Slums had a certain respectability to it. When two of its premier citizens were Superman and Lex Luthor, it was only to be expected.
With every member of Intergang used to that quality of living, it only made sense for them to be bitter about their temporary living arrangements in Dakota City. As the presence of even one well-known member of Intergang in Dakota would alert Superman, those in charge of the operation found themselves throughly banned from appearing in the city proper, especially the nicer parts. Instead, they were forced to live in squalor among the poorer neighborhoods, where the excessive amount of crime allowed them to hide 'in plain sight', so to speak. They weren't even allowed to wear their nice clothes, otherwise they would catch the attention of the city's resident superheroes, including the "Black Superman," Icon.
"Do you have any idea why Ugly wants us peddling this crap to the punks that live in this shithole?" One nameless grunt said to another.
Nameless Grunt #2 shook his head. "Nothing. Not like Ugly ever tells us shit anyway."
"Here here!"
The first grunt grumbled. "At least we're getting a pretty penny for this. I've been saving up for the newest LexCorp laptop for months!"
"You mean the 450? You know they're planning to unveil the newest model next week at the tech expo, right?"
"Seriously? It's only been six months!"
"You know how Luthor is. He's always generating new ideas."
"I thought his assistant Mercy Graves took over the company after he went to the White House?"
Nameless Grunt #1 and Nameless Grunt #2 gave Nameless Grunt #3 flat looks.
"What?"
BOOM!
No, Intergang Did Not Like Dakota City.
Operation is a go, M'gann announced over the telepathic link, watching as Wallace burst through the backdoor and begin swiping weapons away. Almost offhandedly, she lifted a few of the men on the upper walkway and knocked them out with a quick probe to their minds. Harmless in the long run, but with enough force to keep them out of the fight. Other than a few handheld blasters, nothing major. Also, LexCorp is releasing the 900 in a few months.
Isn't that the one with a secret backdoor that allowed Luthor to spy on anyone who bought it in an another attempt to find Superman's secret identity? Kaldur asked.
Nah, you're thinking of the 450, the last one he released before this one. This is the one that Luthor used to hack into the databases of every major lawmaking body on the planet in order to blackmail them into declaring him ruler of the Earth when that asteroid was hurtling towards the planet and he was planning on destroying it with nukes, Wallace corrected him.
Oh, right… Kyle handled that already, didn't he?
Said he blew it into chunks during his last transmission.
You know, some of the stuff you guys talk about is kind of disturbing, Rocket observed.
If helpful, Gear commented, Now I have a reason to go for the new WayneTech computer instead!
Seriously, Gear? You honestly think your parents are going to accept that excuse? You'll sound like some crazy conspiracy theorist!
Look, man, I really want that new computer! Have you seen the storage and processing power on that—!
Wait! Icon cut in, floating upwards, We got a straggler! Continue this conversation later!
Time to go back to work everyone, Kaldur concurred, drawing his water-bearings and using his hydrokinesis to draw out water from the air and ground. A quick look at the survey of the land revealed there was pipe system under this building, still working, and he had been quick to take advantage. It rose slowly but gradually, until a water wall of medium height encircled the factor and flash-froze into an impromptu border. The straggler, which was soon joined by several of his compatriots, cursed before drawing out his gun — a normal one, not a blaster like the ones M'gann reported about.
"Huh," Static commented as he floated in the air, watching as the thugs pointlessly shot at an invulnerable Icon, "this is going to be even easier than I thought."
"That was surprisingly easy," Static repeated as he plopped down a tied up trio of grunts on the ground. Icon and the Flash were canvassing the immediate area, capturing any grunts that had managed to flee in the initial attack. M'gann was scanning everyone's mind for intel, while the rest of the group with restraining the grunts so the police could properly secure them for arrest.
Rocket shrugged. "We had a plan," she reminded him.
"I know. But you would figure they would have better security measures than, well, this." He gestured to the grunts.
That's a good thing, M'gann told them through her telepathy, continuing to scan the minds of the numerous grunts. It means that they aren't too ingrained into Dakota City yet. So either whatever plan they have for your city hasn't gotten off the ground, or they have no long-term designs on your city.
If that's the case, then why did they start the drug ring? Gear asked, as he used Back-Pack to make contact with the nearest precinct. Why try to jumpstart the Bang Baby crisis again?
Other than profit? M'gann pointed out. Unknown. These are all grunts and mid-level enforcers. No one high-ranking except for Stanton. That means the one that was heading this operation is either already back in Metropolis or has gone to ground. We'll send you a data packet from the JL database on Intergang so you can—
Suddenly, a loud alarm began to emanate from Back-Pack. At the same time, Gear stilled as the data began to stream into his helmet.
"Gear?" Static asked hesitantly.
Gear turned to him with wide, haunted eyes. "Dude, we need to get to the community center now!"
"Thanks for doing this, Adam," Robert told his (hopefully) future son-in-law. "I know you're busy and all—"
"Not as busy as I used to be," Adam interjected, straightening his tie with Sharon's help. "Now that I've retired from superheroism, I have more free time now. But even without that, I wouldn't miss this for the world."
Today was career day at the Freeman Community Center, and Adam had offered to be one of the speakers at the event, both as a gesture of goodwill and as a favor to his girlfriend and her father. Robert had agreed immediately, knowing that Adam's story had been very inspirational to many of the children and young adults that went to the center. In combination with his high profile, it might be enough to convince more people to come to the center to help, something that Robert could better support after the massive donation Edwin Alva had made to the center a while back.
It was only too bad Virgil could be here today, Robert thought. He was, however, soothed by the fact that his son was doing something equally, if not even more important: taking down that Bang Baby Gas drug ring with his friends, so the streets of Dakota could be safe again. Robert would a sleep a lot better at night knowing that there would be less metahuman criminals that could endanger the people of the city and his son in particular, who would never stand for people harming innocents.
Those thoughts led him to the offer those 'future' heroes had made to him and to Virgil and his friends. While Robert could see the value in Virgil having official mentors and getting more training, he was paranoid with the idea that this would lead to his son involving himself further into the superhero community. He watched the news. He saw what the Justice League, the Titans, the JSA and hell, even Young Justice got up to. He just wasn't sure he was ready to watch his son go up against threats like that.
"It's going to mean a lot to the kids to have you speaking to them today, boo," Sharon said, smiling up at her boyfriend. Adam smiled back, before leaning down and giving her a chaste kiss.
Then, the sound of breaking glass. Both Hawkins, Adam, and several members of the audience frowned and glanced up at the direction of the sound.
KA-BOOM!
When Wallace heard the warning from M'gann over their mental link, he immediately sped back to the city with Icon, trusting the others to make it to the community center in their own time. Using his memory of the city's layout from the tour the kids had taken the others and him on yesterday, he quickly managed to devise a solid route to the community center where Robert Hawkins worked. I hope I won't be too late.
One of the benefits of super speed is that it allowed him to observe certain moments of time in slow motion. So, when he arrived to the community center, he had a brief reprieve where he could properly assess the situation. The explosion, he noted, had taken out a chunk of the front of the building and started a fire that was rapidly spreading throughout the rest. First responders were already present, firefighters trying to combat the blaze while EMTs and ambulances were collecting the injured. A few, he noticed grimly, already had white sheets covering them.
The world returned into view, and he sped towards the blaze, arms spinning. First things first — got to strangle it a bit. A funnel formed around the blaze, sucking out the oxygen of many of the outside flames and allowing the firefighters to blast them water. Up above, he could see Icon doing the same with another part of the building that caught fire, rotating rapidly to form another, larger funnel to suck out the oxygen there. Together, the two men began traveling to different parts of the building, trying to snuff out the fire before it caught the rest of the surrounding area ablaze.
Kaldur! You enroute?
Almost there, Wallace. Kaldur responded, floating side-by-side with M'gann. Together with Static, Rocket, and Gear, the two were heading top speed towards the community center, the entire group grim. Static and Gear looked particularly desperate to get there, which was hardly surprising considering their personal connection to the ongoing situation. What's the situation?
Icon and I have managed to suck out most of the oxygen in the blaze; all that's left is to deal with the tinder, which the firefighters are handling. Right now, we're dealing with evacuating everyone that's left inside the building so the EMTs can treat them.
Casualties?
Right now? Five dead, about a dozen more injured, and a few missing. Considering there was supposed to be a big event at the center today, it could've been much worse.
Kaldur glanced at the two boys flying next to him. What kind of event?
Career day. Several notable people in the community were attending as speakers. Adam Evans in particular was going to speak today about his music career. You know, from his criminal past, to his time as a superhero while also developing his talents as a musician. It was supposed to be a special event for the children that regularly visited the center, especially those who saw him as an inspiration.
You think he was the target?
…I don't know. We're still searching for him. Wallace paused. Him and the Hawkins.
The very moment the community center was in view, Static flew into the dying blaze. Kaldur had informed him that his father, sister, and friend had all yet to be located; they were still pulling out people from the wreckage. To Virgil, that meant only one thing: he needed to find them.
I should have tried harder to convince Dad to keep a tracker on him! Virgil grit his teeth as his eyes darted around the remains of the building that had been one of the centerpieces of his childhood. After Omnara, after he found out, I should've fought harder! I know he didn't want to risk Sharon finding out yet, but still…!
He stopped. There! Purple! Adam's favorite shade! Virgil deactivated his discus and dropped to the ground, using his powers to remove the debris and uncovering Adam's body. The slightest rise and fall of his chest indicated he was still breathing, but judging by the blood leaking from his right arm, the bruises on his face, and the sweat emanating from his pores, that might not last for long if Virgil didn't hurry.
After contacting Wallace over the group's mental link, Virgil picked up Adam and propped him up the nearest standing wall before he did another scan of the place, trying to see if he could find his father and Sharon. Before he could, however, Adam quickly grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. "Static…" he coughed.
"Adam!" Virgil held him steady, trying to make sure he wouldn't keel over. "Careful! You're hurt. Just wait here, my friend will take you over to the medics."
"Forget about me…you need to help them…" Adam continued to cough, breathing heavily. It was a testament to how hurt he was; even breathing was too much for him.
"Help who?" Virgil asked, heart racing. Could he mean…?
"Sharon…Robert…" Adam's eyes were beginning to close again. "They took 'em…"
"Who, Adam? Who?"
But it was already too late. Adam had already fallen silent.
"Adam? Adam! ADAM! MEDIC!"
The attack at the Freeman Community Center during their advertised Career Day dominated the local news in Dakota City for the rest of the day. Easily the worst attack in the city since the Bang Baby Crisis 'ended' several months ago, speculation ran wild as people tried to discover who, exactly, was responsible, and why they attacked. Most noted that the bomb was set off during Adam Evans' scheduled speech at the center, and wondered if that was deliberate. Perhaps retaliation for his time as a superhero? The rumors fired up more when it was confirmed by both Static and the former Rubberband Man that his girlfriend Sharon Hawkins and Sharon's father and the head of the community center, Robert, had both gone missing and were presumed kidnapped. Even now, police were still searching for them, and were offering a reward for any information that would lead to their safe return.
For Adam himself, he was resting in a hospital room with the rest of the survivors. As one of the most injured and highest-profile victims, he had been allotted a room to himself while he was treated. Luckily, his injuries weren't severe enough to require the consent of a medical proxy. As Adam was an orphan whose brother was a criminal that was missing (and presumed dead), his proxy had defaulted to Sharon, and failing that, his manager. Sharon was missing, and his manager had gone on a business trip a few days ago and wouldn't be back in town for at least a couple of more days.
Static, as one of his closest friends during his brief time as a superhero, was allowed to wait for him to awake while the others searched for his sister and father. He would rather be out there searching himself, but the others convinced him otherwise — he was too compromised, and Adam may have more information about the situation and would be more willing to part with it if he saw a familiar face. That was only further cemented when the doctors completed treatment and did a few tests, uncovering some surprises that Adam needed to know as soon as he awoke. More pieces to a puzzle that no one could quite make out yet.
Finally, the door opened, and the supervising physician walked out. "He's awake, and he's willing to see you," he told the young teenager. He glanced at Kaldur, who had also elected to wait with Static. As he lacked the ability to move quickly or fly like the others, the third Aquaman felt he would be more useful as emotional support for the young hero. "And you are…?"
"A liaison with the Justice League," Kaldur answered smoothly.
"It's fine, Doc," Static added quietly. "He's with me."
The doctor nodded, before opening the door and allowing them inside.
Adam looked miserable in that hospital bed. He had been changed out of his clothing and into a hospital gown, his body hooked to various machines (including an IV), and his right arm was wrapped in bandages. The ash from the smoke was gone, at least, but it was obvious he was far from a hundred percent. Nonetheless, he made the effort to smile when he saw Static, though the expression came off as more of a grimace. "Static. Hey."
"Hey, man," Static smiled back softly, if sadly. "How are you?"
"Been better," Adam admitted. "But I'm alive, and I guess that's all we can ask for."
"Yeah," Static agreed, something far-off in his voice. "Look, I know you just woke up and all, but…do you think you can tell us what happened?"
Adam looked down. "It's not much," he said, to his obvious frustration. "I was waiting in the gym right outside the stage, joking around with Sharon and Robert. We were just about to start, when we heard this loud sound of glass breaking, before the explosion happened. Sent debris flying everywhere. Once we got our heads together, we tried to start the evacuation, but then this small group of men poured in and started shooting things up. As everyone began to panic and flee, they cornered the three of us. We tried to fight them off, but they were too strong — they knocked me out. The last thing I saw was them grabbing Sharon and Robert—" His eyes widened. "Shit! Virgil!"
Kaldur crossed his arms and glanced at Static, who had completely frozen in place. Adam, worried, hadn't noticed. "Static! Sharon has a younger brother named Virgil! If they've taken her and her dad, they might go after him too! You need to find him now!"
Instead of answering, Static stared at Adam with some sad, indescribable look in his eye. He turned his gaze to Kaldur, who gave him a single nod. It's up to you.
After a moment, Static nodded back. Kaldur obeyed the silent command and started closing the blinds of the room and locking the door. He reached into his water-pack and took out a muffling device, one that would knock out any bugs and prevent eavesdroppers by producing white noise, and planted it on one of the walls. He pressed a button on the side, activating it, and once he saw the green light, gave Static a thumbs up.
Static swallowed, turning his attention back to his confused friend. He inhaled deeply, before reaching upwards and taking off his mask.
Adam blinked in shock. "…Virgil?"
"…Yeah."
"…Well, this explains a lot," Adam noted with a slight laugh.
Despite himself, Virgil couldn't help but smile a bit. "Yeah. It does, doesn't it?"
Adam gave a slight nod, closing his eyes and leaning back onto his pillow. "…Does Sharon know?"
"No. Dad does though, after he was kidnapped by Omnara those couple of months back. We were gonna tell Sharon, but…"
"…she was still pissed about the car. I remember." Adam sighed. "I'm sorry, Virgil. I couldn't protect them."
"Don't be," Virgil replied firmly, standing closer to his friend and taking his uninjured hand. "You did your best. It wasn't your fault it wasn't enough."
"Still, I should've been able to protect them." The rapper grit his teeth. "You know, I was glad when I was cured but now I wish hadn't been. If I had my powers…!"
Kaldur cleared his throat, cutting them both off. Adam sat up and blinked, finally noticing him, and realizing he looked very familiar. "Wait a minute. You're Kaldur from dinner last night." He glanced at Virgil. "You brought another superhero to dinner?"
"Three superheroes, actually, and I had to," Virgil explained. "They needed to talk to Dad about something."
"Something that isn't relevant right now." Kaldur gave the younger hero a hard stare. "Virgil. You need to tell him."
Virgil swallowed again. "Right."
"Tell me what?"
Instead of answering, Virgil simply lifted the hand he was holding. Then, he pulled. Adam stared in wonder and horror as his arm began to stretch, just like a rubberband.
"But…the antidote…"
"Whoever attacked the community center doused you with a canister of Bang Baby Gas after you were unconscious," Kaldur explained, moving to stand on the other side of Adam's hospital bed. He gestured to Adam's bandaged arm. "Then they drained your right arm of a large amount of blood. That's why you're so groggy. If it hadn't been for your newly-reactivated healing factor, you wouldn't be conscious right now." You would be dead, is what he didn't say, but everyone heard it. The atmosphere of the room had turned grim.
"But why would they want my blood? And why did they turn me back into a metahuman first?"
Virgil exchanged another look with Kaldur. "That's what we're trying to figure out."
KZ-ZZZT! "Static?"
The aforementioned frowned and took out his shock-box, flipping it open. "Yeah, Gear?"
"We've got a situation. It looks like Intergang is attacking Alva Industries. I know you're busy with Adam and all, but we could really use Aquaman and yours help."
Kaldur stepped forward. "Are you certain it's Intergang?"
"Fairly certain. Miss Martian wanted me to tell you we've identified one of the attackers as Whisper A'Daire."
The Xebelian frowned, letting out a silent curse upon hearing that. Whisper A'Daire was one of Ugly's main enforcers and a former member of the League of Assassins. If she was heading the attack, then that meant whatever Intergang was trying to steal from Alva Industries was of top priority to them. "Very well. Static?"
Virgil glanced at his friend. Adam grimaced, but nodded. "Go. I'll be fine. It's not like I'll be much use as I am right now anyway."
"Right." Virgil gave Adam's hand one last squeeze, before letting go. He took his mask out of his pocket and fastened it back around his face. "I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise."
Alva Industries was the brainchild of Edwin Alva, Sr. and the work place of Curtis Metcalf, aka the hero Hardware. The primary employer of Dakota City, Alva Industries was pivotal to Dakota's shaky economic revitalization, which is probably why they had managed to avoid several lawsuits for their questionable business practices. Most notably, their culpability in the Big Bang, being the original creators for the Quantum Vapor that led to the city's metahuman crisis.
Yet despite that, Alva Industries had managed to wade through the bad publicity. They had endured and survived, even after the antics of several former employees (including, it was rumored, Edwin Alva's own son) causing great damage to the city in pursuit of revenge against the company. Such as the Omnara attack several months ago, which saw one of Alva's employees take over every computer system in the city and was beginning to rapidly spread her presence across the world. The threat would have prompted a JL response had it not been quickly handled by Static and Gear. Even after Omnara had explicitly named Alva in her rampage and made her intentions to destroy the company itself clear, Alva Industries came out of the mess no worse for wear.
So, perhaps it was karma or fate that led to Intergang targeting Alva Industries. That after years and years of dodging justice, they were being targeted by the great and powerful Intergang, one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in America and even the world. Or maybe it was the fact that Edwin Alva, Sr. was out of town for a conference with his son and top scientist. Either way, it was a stroke of luck, a golden opportunity; a chance to take what they needed with minimal interference.
Or, at least, that was the idea.
The presence of Sean and Maggie Foley during the attack at Intergang, by contrast, was a bad stroke of luck. By sheer coincidence, the bank they usually went to was near the main headquarters of Alva Industries. That day, they had been visiting the account to get an accurate appraisal of Richie's college fund, which would be used to pay his way through to his degree after he was properly assessed for scholarships that covered tuition and room and board. Richie had expressed a desire to go to MIT or some other top-level school that would allow him to properly pursue his dream as an inventor and engineer, and both of his parents supported him wholeheartedly.
But fate, it seemed, had decided to put them in the crosshairs of harm, because it was just as they were getting out of the bank that Intergang decided to attack Alva Industries. Or at least, that's what one of the surrounding people claimed as they all fled from the attack. The Foleys had only ever heard of Intergang in passing; the crime syndicate was centered in Metropolis, and usually tangled with the likes of Superman. For them to show up here was completely unexpected, and Sean couldn't help but wonder if this was the result of the Bang Baby 'crisis' ending? Or maybe it had never really ended, that this would be the new normal now. That they would become like the likes of Metropolis and Gotham, where superhero battles were the norm.
It was these thoughts that distracted them from noticing one of the grunts sneaking up on them. Maggie let out a shriek as she felt her long red hair suddenly grabbed from behind, forcing her to a stop. She let out a cry of pain and fear as the man tugged, forcing her to her knees. Sean whirled around at the sound of his wife's scream, and glared at the man in hatred and terror. "Let her go!" he shouted.
The grunt snorted and leveled his blaster at him, causing Sean to freeze before throwing up his hands. With a silent gesture, the thug ordered him to his knees like his wife and Sean had no choice but to comply. "You're hostages," the man told them gruffly. "Those superpowered freaks are gonna show up soon and try to stop us, and we'll use you to stop them. Can't let anything screw up this mission, or Ugly will have all our heads."
Sean grit his teeth, but before he could make a retort, he saw something speeding towards the back of the grunt. With wide eyes, he saw Gear ram into the back of the man that had been holding his wife and him hostage. The man went flying, landing in a tumble and then a sprawl, before being restrained by one of those cable contraptions that Static and Gear used to capture their villains.
Almost as soon as the man was restrained, Gear turned around to look at them with a panicked look on his face. "Are you alright?" he asked hurriedly, before he caught himself and cleared his throat, adopting a more steadied tone. "Sir, Ma'am?"
"We're fine," Sean told him, helping his wife get up and back on her feet, dusting her pants off. "Right, dear?"
"Yeah," Maggie confirmed, rubbing her scalp and wincing, "A little sore, but fine."
"That's…that's good! You two better go now, things are going to get messy soon," Gear told them, before standing to the side and gesturing away.
Both adults nodded and began another run out of dodge. Before they did, however, Sean couldn't help but take one last look at their savior. He had seen all of Dakota's heroes on the news before, of course, but this was the first time he had seen one of them up close. But as he glanced at the younger man's face, something struck him. The boy looked familiar. In fact, if he didn't know better, Sean would say he almost looked like… like…
Sean's eyes widened.
Richie?
Sean and Maggie are the official first names of Richie's parents, according to the DCAU wiki.
And once again, the plot thickens!
Next chapter: the attack on Alva Industries.