14 August 2010
Bibbo's Diner, Metropolis
Clad in an oversized hoodie and a pair of leggings over top of her hero costume, Rachel sat snugly between Robin & Artemis in the Metropolitan 24/7 diner where they had all reconvened. It was still dark outside as midnight ticked over to the wee hours of the early morning, and a cold breeze blew through cracked diner doors.
"Kids these days…" Bibbo, the owner & cook of the diner, grumbled as he watched the only fully occupied table from afar. Curiously, a bunch of teenagers (plus a child) in his diner in the middle of the night wasn't what raised a brow; apparently in a world of superheroes and villains, wayward kids in the middle of the night weren't really that interesting. "They stay out 'til all hours of the day and for what? So they can ignore each other! In my diner!"
'Has everyone downloaded the annotated photo we found in the dead woman's hand?' Robin asked over the telepathic link as everyone stared resolutely at the phones in their hands.
'Yes Robin' M'gann chirped as her eyes roved over the cyan words printed around each of the members in the photo.
'Check~' Wally sang.
'Yeah' Artemis grunted.
'Yes' Kaldur nodded.
'Uh huh' Rachel hummed.
'Conner?' M'gann turned to the unusually introspective kryptonian next to her.
'What?' Conner jerked to attention. One of his hands continued to trace the place on his new t-shirt where he had been cut (thankfully it had been shallow and easy enough to stitch up).
'The photo?' Rachel prompted, slightly concerned about his lack of attention. Usually, the older boy was so gung-ho about all this mission stuff (Rachel thought it might've been the last traces of his Cadmus programming or the typical hero-complex that all boys seemed to have, that did that).
'Oh yeah' Conner nodded absently, 'Photo downloaded'
'Is it your wound?' M'gann worried, 'Does it still hurt?'
'It's just a scratch' Conner brushed it off, finally dropping his hand as he turned back to the task at hand. 'I'm fine, let's move on'
'…Facial recognition software has identified almost everyone in the photo' Robin noted as he sucked obnoxiously on the straw of his lemonade. 'We think it might have been taken in 1968, right after Adams' was charged with murder'
'Is that the courthouse in the background?' Artemis noted.
'Mm'
'Boy, they did NOT wait around to celebrate, did they?' Joked Wally as he shovelled another slice of pie into his mouth.
Scrunching her nose up at the obnoxious chewing & slurping on either side of her, Rachel turned to the photo in question. It was a simple thing; formal & clean made up of six men, one woman and a child; four of which were already dead, two who were alive and two whose whereabouts were still unknown. She thought that it would probably look right at home amongst the other military-style/class photos that lined the halls of the Hall of Justice. From left to right, there stood General Clement Lemar of the USAF, who stood accused by Adams of running an underground arms smuggling ring. Supposedly murdered by Adams' hand, the General's fate seemed to be the lynchpin in this whole debacle.
Next was Lieutenant Kevin Blankly of the USAF. A strict-looking man, he played the role of prosecutor in the murder case against Adams, 1968. Unfortunately, he died only 22 years later in 1990 thanks to a bout of cancer. Stood next to him was Major Shirley Mason of the USAF, the dead woman who the two birds & the martian had found at the Pentagon. In 1968, the blonde had been the medical examiner assigned to the case and the same one who had publicly debunked Adams' claims of being drugged & framed for Lemar's murder.
Then there was the man whom Wally & Conner had found, Lieutenant Henry Yarrow of the USAF. He was a squat fellow who stared at the camera like he would rather be anywhere else but there.; which was understandable as a friend & official defence counsel of Adams. He'd retired by today, instead spending his days amongst the drunk tourists of Las Vegas & Honolulu. The fifth member was General Duk Trang of the NLA; the man in question whom they had been unable to save only mere hours before. As the only Vietnamese solider in the photo, not much was known about the man save for the fact that he was a North Vietnamese officer and a suspected smuggler of weapons during his life.
At Trang's side (a fond hand had been placed on the boy's shoulder) stood a small, unknown Asian child who, curiously, was not smiling at the camera. Although from what information they had gathered in the last couple of hours, it could be assumed that this mysterious boy was Rako the samurai; the child-turned-samurai-slash-traitor who, in Trang's own words, had been in his care and under his protection for most of his childhood. Which, according to M'gann's testimony, was why Trang appeared so heartbroken when the armour-clad man had turned up to take out the man who had raised him.
Lastly, there was Sergeant Enos Polk of the USAF, who at the time of Adams' trial, had been the one to arrest Adams as a part of the military police. He was a tired-looking man who stood tall with hand clasped tightly behind his back. He too (being one of the few members still alive with whereabouts known), had retired. But instead of living out his golden years on some sandy beaches or gambling away his retirement like his colleague, the Sergeant lived here, in Metropolis. Which left the last (and unknown) person; Agent Alec Rois of the CIA. In 1968, he had been stationed in Vietnam and Cambodia, working alongside the United States Air Force, at least until Adams had been arrested.
But that still wasn't everyone to be accounted for; there were still more players in this twisted game, because of course there were. Though not pictured in the previous photo (two of them having been too young to attend the court martial), four other (slightly more modern) headshots were displayed on the other page. Of the four pictured there, only three of them were involved in the United State Air Force, but all four were tied (in)directly to Nathaniel Adams, himself, with two of those people being his children. One was of Nathaniel Adams himself and the other was a headshot of General Eiling, the judge (& jury) who had sentenced Adams all those years ago. It was the most macabre of family histories.
'The only players NOT in the photo are Nathaniel Adams, himself' Robin continued, 'And General Wade Eiling, who was the judge at Adams' court martial'
'Right ray of sunshine he was' Rachel grumbled, recalling just how dismissive and derogatory/accusative the man had been. Mostly she was trying to shove the images of those two dead bodies out of her mind; the ones that reminded her of the similarly-poised (burning) ones that had been present when Azarath had burned. Because again she—they—had been the cause of someone's death (she didn't know how the others could be so calm about it all).
'What's the deal with him?' Artemis wondered as she looked at the no-nonsense man in question. Even pictured in the headshot, Eiling appeared sour and strong-armed.
'Eiling was the one who sentenced Adams to life in prison, where he later died' M'gann replied, picking up the narrative. (Rachel noted that there was a tinge of sourness colouring her tone, alongside some uncomfortableness as she recalled her own interaction with the man).
'After which, Eiling shortly MARRIED Adams' wife and raised his two children, Randall & Peggy, as if they were his own' Robin ended, picking up where the martian had ended.
'Eurgh' Wally scrunched his nose up in disgust at the implications. If the whole smuggling ring thing wasn't his biggest motivator, that love-triangle might have also done it. People have been killed for a lot less. 'That's just…eurgh!'
'Are we sure this boy is the assassin?' M'gann asked, pointing to the mysterious boy in the photograph. 'The one Trang called 'Rako?'
'It would make sense' Wally replied, 'Didn't Trang say that he protected the boy ever since he was a child? That's why he was so upset at the betrayal'
'But Rako said that he was loyal to someone else; someone OTHER than Trang…'
'Who wants to bet that the other 'someone' was our missing CIA spook, Alec Rois?' Robin replied. 'His dossier listed numerous nasty specialities, including BRAINWASHING…'
'This photograph is looking more & more like a hit list!' Artemis exclaimed as she flickered through the files on her phone, 'Someone Rois & Rako found out we were investigating the Adams case—'
'—And decided that it was time to tie up loose ends!' Wally ended, 'But that means either Sergeant Polk or Adams' old buddy, Lieutenant Yarrow, are going to be the next to die!'
'And if that's the case, it's gonna—kinda—be our fault!' Rachel agreed, biting her lower lip in thought as her feet swung clear above the ground.
'So, what's our next move, Boss-man?' Robin peered around the girls and over towards the atlantean who had taken up residence at the head of the table, having pulled a chair over to sit in earlier.
'Our next move?' Kaldur hummed as he stared into the gorgeous blue eyes of his old friend & crush, Tula. 'We split the Team. Half of us go to investigate Polk, here in Metropolis. And the other half will head to Las Vegas, to protect Yarrow'
