In the Shadow of the Bat
League of Assassins
Talia Al Ghul, the Demon's Head and leader of the League of Assassins HATED hiding. The tall, attractive brown haired woman stalked through the base, her expression grim as she headed for the control room. The others in the base avoided her, the agents knowing both that she was angry and not in the mood for conversation.
The workers at the computer terminals tried to look busy, the men and women all dressed in simply designed jump suits. Talia ignored them as she went to a terminal and sat down. She hesitated a moment, hands over the keyboard, then grimly hit the keys, calling up the latest updates on the damage to the League.
Once, the League of Assassins had bases around the globe, their people quietly infiltrating every walk of life. Across Asia, Europe, North America, South America, they even had bases in Antarctica and the North Pole. Sleepers waited everywhere to be activated for a assignment, then shut down until needed again.
But now... the map on the screen showed active bases as blue, inactive as red. And the amount of red on her screen was enough to make Talia grit her teeth in rage. North America was GONE, as far as the League was concerned. Batman and his allies in the Justice League, the Titans, Outsiders and others had swept up everything they had. Europe was crippled, though thankfully the Global Guardians were less thorough than the JLA was. It was hard to tell how bad China was going to be hit, as the Great Ten were still attacking their bases. She had issued evacuation orders for all their bases, just in case, but there was no way to know how many troops would survive.
The elite assassins were free, so that was something. Shiva had successfully escaped a attempt to capture her, and had taken her students with her. Shrike was a victim of the sweep, but frankly Talia didn't feel he was much of a loss. David Cain had recently revealed he was willing to take jobs from her, as were Merlyn and mad, blind Professor Ojo. New recruits White Canary and others were also free, though Talia wasn't sure if she could rely on them.
"My lady," a young man said to her respectfully, "outer sensors show incoming troops."
Talia cursed softly as she realized she had been so distracted by her thoughts not to pick up on it. She switched screens, then swore again as she saw forces crossing the desert towards them. "Evacuate the base," she ordered over intercom, "procedure omega."
Getting up from her seat Talia ordered her operatives to flee the control room, even as she mentally estimated how long they had. The attackers were members of the Global Guardians, she recognized the foolish costumes, along with military forces. Apparently they wanted the glory of her capture for themselves, rather than calling in the JLA.
Outside, the hero called Olympian tapped into the strength of Hercules and tore open the sand covered door to the secret headquarters. The mythic Golden Fleece gave him the powers of the legendary Argonauts, making him the powerhouse of the team. Behind him came Jack O'Lantern, Fleur-de-Lis and Owlwoman, along with a number of NATO troops.
Talia was faintly insulted that they only sent these heroes, though it was possible they didn't realize she was here. Either way, she intended to make them regret it.
Fleur-de-Lis advanced cautiously down the hall, her white and blue body covering costume bearing her namesake. "I don't like it," she said as they walked, "we should have waited for reinforcements."
Olympian laughed at that, the big, black haired man smiling under his golden ram-horn helm. "Don't be so timid," he chided her cheerfully, "it's just one woman. Besides, the most dangerous assassins are dead."
"No one found Shiva's body," Jack noted, hovering beside them with his glowing jack o'lantern in his hands.
Owlwoman stalked forward silently, her expression grim. She wasn't comfortable around Jack, what with the first version of the hero having been her boyfriend. Still, she tried to ignore it as she did her job on the team. Her hightened senses ranged outward, and she frowned as she said, "There's too many scents here, I can't track anything. We'll have to search the old fashioned way."
"Understood," Fleur-de-Lis said grimly.
"Then we'll just drive the rats from their holes," Olympian said cheerfully.
The base was eerily quiet as they advanced, the support troops fanning out to explore the side tunnels as the heroes headed down what they assumed was a main passage. There were almost no signs of human habitation, other than the scents Owlwoman was still picking up.
\ "Where are they?" Olympian finally growled out, feeling frustrated after nearly a half hour of useless searching.
"Well, it IS a base for assassins," Jack said, casting light into various dark corners, "it may not be set up like we thought."
Fleur-de-Lis touched a radio on her ear, concealed by her costume. "Squad one, report," she ordered, but got only static in reply.
Owlwoman activated her own cowl radio, "Squad one? Two? Report please."
No answer, and the super heroes exchanged nervous glances. "Are the radios being jammed?" Jack asked optimistically.
"My radio picked up Owlwoman," Fleur-de-Lis said after a moment.
Olympian looked at them in disbelief, "It HAS to be jamming. There's no way these killers could take out two squads of our best troops."
"Want to bet on that?" Jack said grimly, not liking the feel of this at all.
Advancing down the hall Owlwoman raised a hand, stopping them. "There's a laser cutting across the hall ahead of us, probably a trap," she said.
"Your enhanced vision comes in handy again," Fleur-de-Lis conceded as they carefully stepped around the beam. Her foot came down on a normal looking section of the floor, giving a loud click.
"Oh crap," Jack breathed out.
With that the floor dropped away from them, and both Fleur-de-Lis and Olympian fell down the shaft. Jack and Owlwoman could fly, escaping the fall, but neither were fast enough to catch their comrades before they were gone. And before they could chase after them the false floor snapped back into place, nearly chopping off Owlwoman's hand as she grabbed for Olympian.
"Damn it!" Owlwoman cursed. She extended her finger blades and slashed at the floor, but it didn't show a scratch.
Jack fired off a energy bolt, but it did nothing too. "I can track them with my lantern," he said, "but we need to find a access underground."
"Right, let's go," Owlwoman hurried to follow him, both dreading what might be happening to their comrades as they searched for them.
Fleur-de-Lis refused to scream as she and Olympian slid down the chute into the underground. She tried to grip the walls but they were all polished smooth, made of some artifical material. They dropped into a open room and splashed down in a puddle of fluid, something soft underneath them cushoning her fall.
Almost at the same time Olympian splashed down, bellowing in anger. They were stunned for a moment by the impact, but the bear of a man recovered fairly quickly, getting up and looking around angrily. "Come out and face me!" he bellowed.
Fleur-de-Lis tried not to be annoyed with him as she tried to assess their situation. They were in a large room, connected to two dark passages. The room was dimmly lit, and they were standing on something soft and kind of flexible. She looked down, activating her costume's night vision, then made a choking noise as she fought not to throw up in a full face mast.
Olympian slogged over to her as he asked, alarmed, "What ails you?"
"We're," Fleur-de-Lis managed to keep her gorge down, "we're standing on bodies. I think the troops we came in with."
Olympian looked down, his eyes widening in shock as he realized what they were standing in. Beneath a thin surface of water a man's face gazed up at him, and all around them other, bloated corpses lay in the water. He staggered away from Fleur-de-Lis and threw up, spewing against the wall.
It was the distraction of him being sick that let the woman sneak up on her. With no warning a hand yanked Fleur-de-Lis' head back, then a blade sawed across her throat. "Hurk!" she made a incoherent noise as the hand let her go, staggering a few steps as blood sprayed.
"Fleur!" Olympian cried out, charging towards the brown haired woman calmly standing amid the bodies, blood dripping down her simple clothes.
Talia casually stepped aside, dodging the big man's charge easily. "Killing your friend was too easy," she taunted him, "for a secret agent she was wide open. Will you be more of a challenge?"
Using his superhuman strength and speed Olympian tried to grapple with the woman, but she slid away like some kind of eel. She seemed no faster than a human, but somehow she read his intentions and was always a step ahead of him. He felt his frustration and anger growing, even though he knew it was making his attempts to catch her even harder.
Talia's knife flashed as he ran by, cutting his bare arms and making him bleed sluggishly. The blade was forged from Prometrium, the most indestructible substance known to man, but even it had difficulty piercing his skin. 'Damn magic,' she thought, deciding a different method was called for.
Olympian slipepd in the swelling bodies, struggling to keep his balance. This was maddening! She dodged his best attacks, a cool smile on her face and that strange knife flashing. The Golden Fleece helped heal him, but it shouldn't have been possible for her to hurt him at all. Was she a witch?
"She died because of you, you know," Talia taunted him, "she was distracted by you being sick." She laughed mockingly, "Being sick? Over bodies? What are you, a woman?"
Mouth open as Olympian bellowed in fury he charged the strange woman again, just as she intended. Instead of dodging she got in close, slipping something from her belt and tossing it into his mouth. The Olympian staggered to a stop as he tried to spit, but the capsule hit the back of his throat and he HAD to swallow or choke.
"What...," Olympian started, feeling a surge of panic as he wondered what he had swallowed.
"I wonder," Talia stepped back from his cautiously, knowing the explosive device would detonate in a moment, "if you are as invulnerable inside as out?"
Olympian looked at her in horror a moment, then within him there was a muffled boom. His mouth opened, blood pouring out then he simply fell sideways, much like a fallen tree.
"I guess not," Talia smiled coldly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Barely ten minutes later Jack and Owlwoman found a access to the sub-basement, then discovered the hidden chambers beneath the base. They slogged through the rooms filled with corpses, some so old to be skeletons and others disgustingly fresh, until they found Olympian and Fleur-de-Lis.
"Fuck," Jack said weakly, his lantern lighting up the scene for them.
Owlwoman checked the bodies, but swiftly determined they were head. She rose, then froze as Fack's light passed over the far wall. "Shine it back over there," she ordered, and the writing covering the wall became visible.
"Beloved," it read, "all your attacks against me have done have made me stronger. For too long have I relied on others to do my dirty work. Now, I once again have blood on my hands. Thank you for reminding me of who I am." Under neath that was signed "Talia Al Ghul."
"This... I guess it's for Batman?" Jack guessed.
"I think so," Owlwoman said darkly, "but she will pay by our hands too."
To be continued...
Notes: Continuing the 'Assassins' plotline a bit. The Global Guardians are a canon team of heroes in the DC universe, though sadly they tend to get to be cannon fodder a lot. Talia is almost always a damsel in distress character, so I thought it might be nice to set up that she's a LOT more dangerous than people think.