Chapter 25: Teleute

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I stood frozen in place at the sight of Bruce's dying body; my premonition brought to life... or death. All I could think was, not again, not like Donna, not like my mother.

"Quick, Diana, I think he's dying and I can't keep Marvel trapped in an illusion much longer. Not and keep the soldiers out, as well."

Gypsy's words shook me out of my paralysis. I stepped forward... and seemed to step into a dream. Gypsy and Captain Marvel grew insubstantial and suddenly I saw Batman – whole and hale and in costume – standing over Bruce's wisp-like body. Another person stepped into the dream. Her skin was milk-white and she was dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans. A silver ankh hung around her neck.

Batman seemed to know her. He turned towards her and his hands came up in a warding gesture.

"No," he said, his voice ringing. "I won't let you have them, either of them. Not like Jason. I'll fight you."

The woman smiled softly. "Do we have to go through this again, Bruce? You know you can't fight me. But I'm not here for them."

"Oh," and Bruce did something I would never have believed possible. He lowered his arms and the fight drained out of him. "It's finally time, then?"

"No!" I shouted. "Teleute, goddess, I know you! Even in those clothes, I know you! And I say, you will not have this man! Not while I draw breath!"

Batman turned towards me, as if only just realizing I was there. "Diana, no!" He reached a beseeching hand out towards me. "She'll kill you."

I strode forward, bracelets crossed in front of me. "Not without a fight, she won't!"

Teleute looked sadly at me. "Do you think even Zeus' Aegis can protect you from my touch, daughter of clay?" she asked. "But if you intend to save his life, you must hurry. A fragment of concrete has torn open the axillary artery in his right armpit. He will bleed out in thirty seconds unless you prevent it."

Suddenly, the dream was gone. I looked down on Bruce's body and set to work.

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Congress was in uproar, which made Batgirl's task harder, but she patiently scanned the chamber, looking for any sign, any hint of trouble.

Senator Connelly sat down and the furor caused by his testimony slowly died down. One senator was vigorously waving his arm and the Speaker said, "The Chair recognizes the senior senator from Georgia."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The testimony given by my esteemed colleague is highly disturbing. However, before we act on it, I want to know how we can be sure that he and Representative Zabrowsky have not been brainwashed by the metas. After all, by their own testimony, they have been in the company of metas for over twelve hours. How do we know what they could – or did – do to them in that time? For that matter, we have only Wonder Woman's word for it that her lasso compels truth. How do we know it doesn't compel the person to say what she wants instead? We don't know how long they have been planning...."

Batgirl stopped paying any attention to the speech. That man in the back, dressed as an HDC trooper, his body language signaled nervous anticipation. He was about to do something, something that scared and excited him. Batgirl moved surreptitiously between him and her charges. Then she noticed where his attention was focused. It was not on any of the four she had been ordered to protect; it was on the present speaker, Senator Whatshisname.

She broke instantly into a run, vaulted the railing, did a handstand on the first deck and used her momentum to kick the Senator out of the way as a plasma blast tore through where he had been, and where Batgirl now was.

Pain shot through her body and her limbs burned with agony. In the distance, she could hear someone shout: "Long Live the Metas! Metas ru..." interrupted by more plasma bursts. Then everything went dark.

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The Mad Hatter looked mildly surprised when Robin, Zatanna and Jason Blood appeared before him in a puff of smoke. He said, "A beamish boy! With an Alice in place of a Vorpal Blade. Not my Alice, alas, nor even a blond-haired Alice, but an Alice nonetheless."

Robin tore off his glasses and grabbed the Mad Hatter by his lapels, knocking his huge hat off. "You should recognize me, Tetch, even without the big, bad Bat to keep me company."

Jervis Tetch's eyes widened. "Not a beamish boy, but a birdie. Fly away, little Robin, lest the Jabberwock catch you."

"Shut up, Tetch, and listen closely. You are going to shut off all of your mind-control devices and take us to where Ross and Jakeem Williams are. Or we'll make you very sorry."

Tetch smiled. "Young boys should not make threats they can not keep."

Robin smiled. "Oh, it's not me you need to worry about. It's my other companion." Jason Blood obligingly stepped out from behind Zatanna, where he had been propping her up. She leaned against the wall, taking slow, deep breaths. Blood smiled. Even when he wasn't trying, Blood looked menacing. Now...

"He can be a real demon from Hell when he wants to be," Robin added.

Tetch took one look at Blood and quailed. "Aiiee! The fumious bandersnatch! Flee!"

Since Robin still had a firm grip on his lapels, Tetch's attempt to flee accomplished nothing. "Now," growled Robin.

Tetch glanced at Robin. "Spawn of the Bat, indeed. Very well."

Robin released his hold on Tetch, who turned and started flipping switches on a large control panel covering one side of the small room. Lights on the board started switching from green to red. Shortly, there was not a green light left on the board.

"Done," said Tetch.

"Good, now take us to Ross."

"Alas, I have not been allowed to play with him." Tetch sniffed. "He belongs to the Scarecrow and the Man in the Moon."

"Blast. Where are they located?" Robin asked. Tetch shrugged.

Robin looked at Zatanna. "Oh, no, kid. This cabby's on empty."

Robin nodded. "All right, Tetch, take us to Jakeem Williams."

"Oh," Tetch brightened. "Yes, now there's a beamish boy, indeed! But, alas, his thunder is silenced, his lightning surreal."

"Just take us to him."

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I ripped Bruce's shirt off him and tore it apart. One piece, I folded into a pad and pressed it into the wound. Another, I wound around his shoulder, to hold the pad tight against the torn artery. But, even as I did it, I felt his breath stop, his hear beat grow erratic. I was too late; he had lost too much blood. I could do CPR but, with so little blood left, I knew it would not be enough. He needed more blood, and quickly, to survive.

I remembered what J'onn had said: You appear to be type O negative, the universal donor. But I got some odd results in the other tests, possibly because of your magical nature. I would recommend you not give blood unless it is absolutely necessary. It was absolutely necessary now. I popped the invisible plane out from under my thumbnail and willed it into a slender flexible tube, coming to a sharp point at each end. I found the vein on the inside of my left elbow and stuck the point in. Blood slowly filled the tube. I found the vein inside his left elbow and plunged the other point in. My blood surged down the line and into his body.

I let it continue as long as I dared, then pulled the tip out of my elbow. I allowed the last of the blood to drain into him, then pulled the tip out and shrank the invisible plane once more and slipped it under my nail again. I leaned over him. His heartbeat was more regular but he still wasn't breathing. I put a finger in his mouth to check for obstructions and tilted his head to open the airways. Two quick breaths and I checked again. Heartbeat now firm and regular, but still not breathing. Two more breaths. A sudden gasp and he was breathing again. I thanked all the gods and goddesses, even Teleute. I stood and wavered for a moment, dizzy from blood loss. It passed. I turned to Captain Marvel and took my lasso in my hands.

"All right, Gypsy, drop your illusion."

She nodded and relaxed. Captain Marvel blinked, taken momentarily off guard by the sudden change. That was all I needed. I tossed the loop of my lasso over him and pulled it tight.

I expected my lasso of truth to shatter the lies Luthor's cronies had used to enslave him. Instead, I found myself holding on as power surged up and down the lasso. The lies they had fed him were strong and fought back against the truth. They had been using him for months: a spy within the JSA, as Major Disaster had spied on the JLA. Throughout that time, they had built up their control, layer upon layer of lies, powerful lies that had dug deep into his psyche and would not die easily. Something kept feeding him more and more lies as the lasso burned away the existing falsehoods. I poured my power down the lasso and the battle grew ever fiercer. I wondered, momentarily, whether either of us would survive.

Then something exploded. We were thrown apart. I scrambled to my knees and grabbed the end of my lasso. Captain Marvel rubbed his eyes.

"Holy Moley, what happened?"

He met my eyes and I could see he remembered everything. He looked down at his hands. "All those people," he whispered.

"Not... your... fault," grated a familiar voice. I turned and saw Batman, his eyes open and tracking. He looked at me.

"Easier... remove... mind control... device."

I looked at Captain Marvel and saw the blackened spot on his neck where the mind control device had been. I shrugged.

Batman tried to raise himself up on an elbow, then abandoned the attempt. "Atom?" he asked.

A pang of guilt smote me. I had forgotten about him. But how would I ever find him in all this rubble?

Captain Marvel reached down and gently scooped up the Atom's miniature body. "He's still breathing."

I popped my invisible plane out from under my fingernail once more. I carefully lifted the Atom out of Marvel's palm and slipped him into the invisible plane.

Marvel and Gypsy stared at me in bewilderment as the Atom disappeared. "My invisible plane," I explained. "I ordered it to create a life support system for the Atom. He will be safe until we can get him medical treatment."

They both strained forward, trying to see it, without success.

"I didn't know you could make it that small," Captain Marvel said wonderingly.

Batman's voice stopped any further comment. "Find... Ross.... Key." He closed his eyes, temporarily exhausted by the effort.

I looked at Gypsy. "Luthor got away with Pete Ross," she told me.

"I did it," Marvel admitted. "I dislocated his shoulder." He looked around the room at the bodies of the men he had killed and paled.

"Don't dwell on it," I ordered him. "Batman is right: it's not your fault. Instead, we need to concentrate on finding Pete Ross. Legally, he's still President. If we can get him away from Luthor and break his brain washing, he can end this."

"Duck!" shouted Gypsy. Marvel and I ducked as a bolt of plasma passed above us and cratered the far wall.

"The soldiers saw you enter here, Diana, so they know something is fishy. I can make the wall appear solid, but," another plasma bolt splashed against the far wall, "I can't stop plasma fire."

I glanced at a large hole in one wall. "We will move into there," I decided. "Then you can drop the illusion covering the door way and, instead, make the wall look solid."

"What about Batman?" asked Gypsy. We all looked at him. Although clearly doing better than before, he would only be a liability.

"Leave... me."

He was right, Hades take the man. I nodded and looked at the others. "Let's move."

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I didn't have the strength to turn my head and watch the others disappear into the next room, so I watched the door into the hall reappear instead. There was a shout from the HDC soldiers and then they started pouring through the newly rediscovered doorway.

"Sergeant," one of the troopers called, "here's a live one!"

The sergeant stepped over. He was an older man with grizzled hair and a hint of the Orient in his skin and eyes. He looked me over.

"You're lucky to be alive, son," he told me. "Where did the metas go?"

I tried to shake my head, but the effort was too great. "Gone."

The sergeant grimaced, but said, "I don't suppose you were in any shape to take notes. Relax, son, we'll have you in a hospital bed before you know it."

"No...command... center."

"What? Why?"

"Can... help."

"I'm sure you want to..."

I put all the command I could into a whispered, "Now."

The sergeant looked taken aback. Then he laughed. "Well, I can tell you're an officer, or the equivalent. Maybe you can help, after all. I'll see about getting a stretcher for you." The sergeant started to move away.

"Wait."

He stopped and looked back at me.

"Hirst?"

He shook his head. "You're the only person we've found alive. The others are dead. Very dead."

Author's Notes: Teleute is the name Neil Gaiman gave Death in "The Song of Orpheus", which is set in Ancient Greece. It appeared in Sandman Special #1 and is reprinted in the "Fables and Reflections"trade paperback.