36
Legal disclaimer: I tend to liberally "burrow" character profiles and art from the Earth-27 wikia created by Roy Westerman with art principally coming from digital artist Phil Cho. Other creators and artists are found there as well and I will specifically list any creations with creator citations as I utilize them. In short, this is the single most comprehensive retelling of all things DC and beyond that I have encountered. In short, it's worth your time to explore.
That having been said, the primary properties, and their variations belong to DC and its parent, AT&T, with five notable exceptions. More on that in the epilogue. I do not own DC characters or their interpretations and reimaginings. My own characters are implied Public Domain since I have not included a copyright notice as required by the 1974 revisions of the copyright statutes and regulations. While an intellectual copyright is implied without the due symbols and language, all such considerations are voided under CC-BY-SA unless duly noted otherwise.
That's the lawyer speak defending this work. I hope you have more fun reading the actual story than this trip to the dentist.
Red Hood and the Outlaws had undergone great changes. Jason Tod was no longer the Red Hood. Instead he adopted an original moniker and armored persona called the Arkham Knight. He did so for reasons unknown until he revealed that he had been recruiting additional members. For once, most of the Outlaws were gathered under single roof. It was provided Nyssa Raatko, their benefactor and sometimes employer.
Mia Deardon, Speedy, was agitated by the news that a new Protector would be joining them in two weeks' time. Mia felt a great weight of guilt from the fact that Jason Hart had been infected with HIV at some point in their rush to have intercourse, forsaking protection. And unlike Mia, who'd had the virus for years, Jason immediately develops AIDS and died within months.
All these facts mitigated that Conner Hawke, Green Arrow, take all due precautions no matter how heated and urgent the moment of passion. And Conner happily agreed, despite awkward moments as a result. But he loved Mia and appreciated her caring enough for him to try every possible avenue to avoid repeating the past.
And Jason Todd's decision was obvious when a young woman took his place as the Red Hood, albeit forsaking the actual red hood helmet that had typified the character for so long. Li Harper was a refugee from Earth-4's destruction by antimatter. As people were slowly learning, the doppelgangers on Earth-4 had been fifteen years older than their Earth Prime opposites.
For Roy Harper, Arsenal, and Jade Nguyen, Cheshire, seeing a nineteen-year old incarnation of Lian their four-year old daughter was completely off the rails. With Deathstroke dissolving the Titans, Arsenal and Cheshire had sought a place in the Outlaws. Conner Hawke, Mia, and Emiko Queen being the closest thing to family Roy had. Jade had two half sisters by different mothers and they shared the same name. An event that made Cheshire curse her stepdad all the more.
It wasn't enough he'd inspired her mother to become the second Tigress to his Sportsmaster, he'd convinced his eldest daughter, Artemis, to shoulder the name after Paula Nguyen was paralyzed from the waist down. And he undoubtedly pressuring his youngest daughter, also imaginatively named Artemis to become the newest Tigress while her older sister was imprisoned. It wasn't enough Artemis, the youngest, was in the middle of her Master's program and helping care for Lian and Icicle and Tigress' daughter, Isabelle.
Cheshire was one of the few that knew Artemis had practiced at archery until she was as skilled as any archer with the Outlaws. And the number kept growing. Another oddity was having Ollie Queen from Earth-16 with the team. Whereas individuals were older than their counterparts on Earth-4, on Earth-16 they were thirty years younger. The Oliver Queen of Earth Prime had just entered his fifties when he died. Ollie was just entering his thirties. Ollie had never been Green Arrow. Like Conner at the beginning of his vigilante career, Ollie was simply the Arrow. He'd never seen a trick arrow until he examined Team Arrow's arsenal.
Rene Ramirez took over the legacy of Wild Dog when the original recruited him shortly before undertaking a suicide mission that destroyed an entire domestic terrorist network. He'd left Rene millions of dollars of mob money that he himself had inherited from his mafia princess fiancé.
Street Avenger had been a homeless man inspired by Adrian Chase and Pat Trayce's wars on crime. Street Avenger's agenda was uncomplicated. He wanted to exploit the vulnerabilities of those that preyed on the vulnerable. And he didn't care who he had to kill in oreder to achieve his aim.
John Black Bison was a former high school educator chosen by tribal shaman's to be empowered by his animal animas. The surge of power temporarily deranged Black Bison and he fought Firestorm to a standstill three times over. But he began to control the power rather than let it control him. But he was already branded a murderer. And then Jason offered him the opportunity to join the Outlaws' mission.
Evelyn Crawford was another interdimensional refugee from Earth-3. Starling had been chosen, as everyone else that survived when the Crisis met their world, by the Monitor to undertake a "mission". It was just that very few people had their missions revealed to them. Li, Ollie, and Evie had compared notes and found their stories were all similar. And just as nebulous.
Emiko Queen was Conner's half-sister and Ollie's "daughter"? She felt entirely confused. A feeling shared by Conner, Mia, Roy, and Jade.
The remaining members that were present were Rose Wilson-Worth, the Ravager, and Beryl Hutchinson, the Squire. Beryl had reclaimed her persona after the Knight got himself killed. She was too angry to conceive of replacing him but she was the Squire. And no one would ever take the name from her ever again. Her girlfriend agreed and Rose was prepared to immolate anyone who tried.
Rose understood complicated parental relations. After all Slade Wilson had met and romanced her Vietnamese mother while he was married to Adeline Kane. And Rose had discovered she had two American brothers who cautiously awaited her arrival. Grant resented her. Josh embraced her.
She'd believed both to be dead. But Grant had recently tried to kill her and Beryl. Josh had reached out but was on the run now that his gen factor had manifested. They'd gotten him to the Justice Society's Young Justice program.
The morning had been slow. Beryl was helping Roy adjust his prosthesis. Li and Emiko were sparring with Jade. John and Rose were emphasizing using his body for more than blunt force trauma. Rene and Street Avenger had been challenged to another marksmanship duel by Evie. So far she was up a hundred dollars between them at twenty dollars a round.
Jason approached Beryl with a look of consternation, "Beryl, the network just froze. Something about an 'Oracle' alert?"
Beryl dashed off, "Bloody hell! Shit! Effin' hell! Shit! Damn! Eff it all!"
"What about my arm?" Roy whined.
"Stow it, Harper," Jason had never seen Beryl lose her cool before.
He reached the ops room, "How can I help?"
"Get everyone geared up and ready to roll in ten," Beryl said tersely.
"If you give a location, I'll vector our incoming newbies to rendezvous with us," Jason one upped her.
Beryl rattled off an address based on what the alert displayed, "Jason?"
"Yeah?" he paused.
"Thank you," Beryl expressed.
"We're family," Jason said and left.
And Beryl's sense of gratitude only grew.
Squire had changed and left their room before Rose had a chance to transform into Ravager. She briefed Arkham Knight, who'd donned his armor at breakneck speed, while the others assembled in the garage.
"This is a rescue op," Arkham Knight announced.
"What's an 'Oracle', besides an alert?" Arsenal was still flexing his mechanical hand.
"Oracle is a person. She's our intel gatherer, our handler, our case support manager, and a hacker par excellance. For those of us that were there, we owe Oracle our lives for enabling us to escape from NOWHERE."
"How do we know this 'Oracle' didn't get away on their own?" Arrow inquired.
"She paraplegic," Squire answered, "So unless she had a few hours' advance warning, it's unlikely she escaped on her own."
"And how do you know?" Speedy asked.
"Oracle caught me breaking into, and uploading files, from NOWHERE to Wikileaks. She made it work fast enough I was able to escape undetected. The next day she provided the access codes to all the secure doors. So we released everyone and escaped in the confusion."
"Who's this 'we'?" Street Avenger sounded disgruntled.
"I was there, ass hat. So was Arkham Knight, and Caitlin Fairchild," Ravager told him. Everyone knew of Fairchild. Her story was infamous. She'd developed a suppressant for meta-genes only to have ARGUS try and kill her for it, forcing her underground. Rumor was ARGUS had gone into Opal City to retrieve her and had their asses handed to them.
"Why're we waiting?" Starling asked impatiently, "Where is the fem?"
"Van Nuys Airport," Arkham Knight told them.
Ravager rose with Squire on the Brit's bike. Team Arrow accompanied them on their motorcycles. Arsenal and Cheshire drove in a highly modified Camaro. Starling rode shotgun in Arkham Knight's truck. Red Hood, Black Bison, Street Avenger, and Wild Dog rode in the group's cargo van. It had four bucket seats fastened to the chassis walls. Two seats remaining unoccupied.
Squire and the team arrived first. The archers formed a perimeter while Ravager and Squire waited for reinforcements. Arkham Knight and Starling drew their sidearms while Squire indicated the external locks were damaged beyond repair. Whoever had gone in didn't bother with the niceties. Ravager threw the door and drew her own pistol while Arkham Knight led the phalanx inside. Squire studied everything while the others remained outside in case trouble lurked inside.
Oracle had a small server farm in a refrigerated insulated glass cube. One entire wall was covered in monitors and a very utilitarian desk bowed in a semicircle. Laptops, mice, and keyboards bedecked the desk. Underneath it was a battery of computer towers.
Nearby was a bench filled with components and Oracle had several systems being constructed.
"How will you get in?" Ravager asked.
"We set up a contingency when the alert was programmed," Squire revealed "If you'll help me, we'll access the last project she was working on as well as surveillance footage."
"We'll collect physical evidence," Arkham Knight volunteered. He motioned for Red Hood to join in. there were two small refrigerators and a portable freezer. A bed designed to be level with the seat of Oracle's wheelchair was tossed about. The wheelchair itself was knocked over and left behind. A pair of eyeglasses were strewn across the floor. And there was blood at the head of the bed.
"Fem didn't go quietly," Starling admitted.
"Her mobile is across the space," Red Hood retrieved it, "She was in the middle of inputting a number."
"Recognize it?" Arkham Knight asked.
"It's our SOS line," she replied.
"Probably tripped the computer alarm as well," Arkham Knight guessed, "Tell everyone they can come in if they stay back."
"Black Bison? A consultation?" Arkham Knight requested, "How fresh is that blood?"
Black Bison examined it with more than human senses, "Less than an hour old."
"Anything else?" Arkham Knight hoped there was.
"There's hair," Black Bison pulled blonde strands of hair from around the bed posts.
Arkham Knight examined and found it was elastic, "Aw, hell."
"I know who did this," he told Squire.
"It wouldn't happen to be the Injustice Society of bleeding America, would it?" she stood watching surveillance footage with Ravager. the scenes weren't pleasant to watch. In the end, Goldilocks pointed at the bed as she was the last one to depart.
"Why would she do that?" Arkham Knight asked.
"I have no bloody idea," Squire admitted.
"It's the hair. She wanted it found for some reason," Ravager put it together.
"Meaning there's a way to track her through it," Squire realized.
"The ISA has a lot of new faces," Arkham Knight acknowledged.
"So do we," Ravager snorted.
"How can you track someone using their hair?" Squire asked herself.
"Well, the shampoo she uses stinks like iodine," Ravager complained.
"That's it! Rose, you're a bloody genius. Can you grab the Geiger counter out of the bike's saddlebag?" she asked her girlfriend.
"You think it's radioactive?" Red Hood asked.
"I think it's radioactive iodine," Squire guessed, "And we're about to know for certain."
Ravager waved the Geiger counter over the hair and it reacted. Squire looked surprised, "This was intentional. Goldilocks' hair never pulls out and doesn't break unless she allows it. And to clue us in…"
She let the thought hang. Red Hood was confused, "But I was told she leads the Injusticers on this Earth."
"She does. But Goldilocks was briefly a member of the Justice League and served with controversial distinction," Squire explained, "And then one day, she was upset and left. Next thing, she's with the Injustice Society and rose to the leadership within weeks of arriving."
"So you think she has an agenda," Ravager understood.
"This could be our first evidence of it," Squire theorized.
"The guessing game is fun but how do we find her?" Arkham Knight was getting testy.
"Oh, that. I alerted NEST to a possible atom bomb on Santa Monica Blvd. They have the sensitivity to detect every radioactive isotope within the city. And because they will sweep the entire metro when they fail to detect a bomb at the specified coordinates," Squire was nonchalant.
"Heh. That's pretty damn clever," Arkham Knight admitted.
"How will we know when they detect what we're searching for?" Red Hood.
"Because the radiation will be isolated in a bizarre location," Squire told her, "Somewhere other than hospitals, research labs, and the El Segundo, Scattergood, and SRE nuclear power stations."
"We have company!" Wild Dog shouted as he took one side of the open door. Street Avenger took the other. Arsenal and Cheshire readied themselves for combat.
"Why the hell didn't our perimeter warn us?" Arkham Knight was irritated. He got on comms with them.
Red Hood advised Black Bison, "Stay out of sight. Starling, help me establish a crossfire."
"I'll need at least ten to twenty minutes for NEST to conduct their search," Squire warned everyone.
"This won't last three," Ravager predicted.
A woman with a blindfold and a gunshot wound in her chest strolled in. She pointed two fingers with an upraised thumb at Wild Dog. The other woman, a redhead with a black leather body suit with golden trimmings and a domino mask entered in. the redhead looked over at Street Avenger.
"Bang," was all she said.
"You should get that looked at, Honey," Starling said as she converged on them with Arsenal and Cheshire nearby.
"They're with us," Arkham Knight announced, "Meet Crimson Avenger and Sparrow."
"Who the eff are they?" Wild Dog asked.
"I thought Crimson Avenger was a really old guy," Arsenal remarked.
"He passed the torch to me," Crimson Avenger shared, "I just beat twenty-counts of murder thanks to him as well."
"Meaning he went to prison for you," Street Avenger disapproved.
"His choice, not my preference," Crimson Avenger replied.
"And what about her?" Black Bison was suspicious of Sparrow.
"Yeah, what about her?" Starling was far more intrigued on a personal level.
"Let's introduce ourselves first to engender some trust here," Arkham Knight suggested, "Team Arrow can when we're done here."
They made the rounds and returned to Crimson Avenger, "You know my street name. My real name is Lee Travis."
"I'm still Sparrow and my actual name is Laurel Anne Hardy," she revealed.
"Bwahahahaha! You've got be shittin' me!" Wild Dog broke into uproarious laughter that lasted until she kicked his balls.
While Rene was vomiting, Black Bison asked a pertinent question; "What qualifications does Sparrow have?"
"I can speak for myself," Sparrow cut Arkham Knight off, "I started small time in Santa Fe before the police ran me out of town. I was accused of fifteen vigilante-style killings."
"Did you kill that many?" Black Bison asked.
"No, I killed twenty-one," Sparrow answered, "I've been roving around cleaning up towns along the way since."
"The press have detected a pattern but haven't laid anything at Sparrow's feet. Oracle showed the cops have even less," Arkham Knight shared, "She specializes in drug rings and human trafficking."
"Good for her," Street Avenger verbally applauded. He turned and aimed his submachine gun at Wild Dog, he had aimed his machine pistol at Sparrow, "Ah, ah, lousy reason to die for."
"She disrespected me, man," Wild Dog complained.
Sparrow drew the escrima sticks from their housing on her back, "I haven't even begun to disrespect you. You're acting like an infant."
Black Bison stepped forward and Arkham Knight blocked him with an arm, "Wild Dog needs a lesson in who he's dealing with. You all do."
"Fair enough," Black Bison conceded.
"I got the gun, sweetheart," Wild Dock said cockily.
"Do you?" she moved before he could fire and knocked his pistol from his hand. Then she hit his hockey mask/helmet. A knees strike followed and then she finished it with a double blow to the gut.
Sparrow stepped back, "Don't. Ever. Threaten. Me. Again."
Rene removed his headgear again and dry heaved a few times. He held up a hand to ward her off, "I get it. We cool now?"
"I am if you are," Sparrow sheathed the fighting sticks.
"Trust me, I'd rather fight with you than against you from now on," Wild Dog confessed.
"That's why you're always polite to a woman, Harper. Otherwise she'll kick your ass," Cheshire teased her husband.
"Which you've done on occasion," Arsenal admitted.
"Hah! Try every day," Cheshire boasted.
"I do let you win once in a while," Arsenal pointed out.
"You never let me win," Cheshire accused.
"I'm letting you win right now," Arsenal replied.
Cheshire was stymied. Arsenal added, "That's why winning every time can be a bad thing."
She punched his arm…hard, "Shut it, Harper."
"We've got something," Ravager called out.
Starling brought Crimson Avenger and Sparrow up to speed…especially Sparrow. Squire had an orbital view of Los Angeles on scree with a street map overlay, "NEST detected diffuse radiation in this high rise. It's too faint to interest them but perfect for our profile."
"How can Goldilocks wear something so radioactive and yet be fine?" Arsenal asked.
"Her hair is infused with magic. It's likely it protects her. And most of the Injusticers would have immunity to such a low-level irradiation," Squire theorized.
"You already have an address," Arkham Knight didn't ask.
"I can report details en route," Squire offered.
"Grab Oracle's chair and her specs," Arkham Knight reminded everyone, "She'll ride back in her own van because we're taking it."
"I'll drive," Black Bison offered, "My cousin was paralyzed so I have experience with the controls."
Now Jason understood why John had stiffened upon seeing the toppled wheelchair, her discarded eyeglasses, and the blood. Something about everything reminded Black Bison of his cousin. And Arkham Knight would be exploring that afterwards.
After collecting Team Arrow and introducing them to Crimson Avenger and Sparrow, Squire led the pursuit of Oracle while updating everyone over comms, "We know the Injustice Society took Oracle but we don't know why. This may be a purely mercenary endeavor. Oracle is located at the Century, a full service high rise condominium complex that just opened. It is one of the single most expensive pieces of real estate in Los Angeles. Which says quite a lot."
"How many Injusticers are talking about?" Arrow inquired from his own bike.
"Unknown. We only had footage of five of them," Squire shared with the group, "So we know for certain the number includes Goldilocks, Rival, Ragdoll, Shiv, and the Shade. Gentlemen Ghost, Shadow Thief, and Solomon Grundy are still confirmed members."
"But we also know my stepsister and her husband are incarcerated in Iron Heights," Cheshire radioed.
"But Oracle fed us quite a bit of chatter concerning the Injustice Society being on a recruiting drive since Goldilocks took over," Arkham Knight revealed.
"So we have an unknown number of hostiles with unknown talents," Squire concluded.
"Which means we go in low and slow," Red Hood urged, "Once we've scouted the terrain we make our plans and execute them as a team."
The last had been an admonishment primarily aimed at Starling, Wild Dog, and Street Avenger. And, on occasion, Ravager as well.
"The sedative is wearing off," Goldilocks advised her employer, "She should revive in minutes. But it's cruel to deprive her of her wheelchair and access to a restroom."
"My, my, sweet Goldilocks, your empathy doesn't befit your reputation," Crimson Queen tutted her.
"She's an average human cripple. Why send us?" Goldilocks asked.
"Because this 'average cripple' has access to any number of super powered individuals and teams. She's especially close to Red Hood and his Outlaws," Crimson Queen informed her, "So having someone searching for her is more than a likely scenario. It's a dead certainty."
"So we're simply your deterrent," Goldilocks was less than pleased.
"And some of you will be my assistants as well," Crimson Queen informed her, "I lack my necessary equipment but you have people that could emulate what I normally engineer."
"The real reason we were hired," Goldilocks acknowledged, "Just be advised. My primary occupation at this point is getting my people out of whatever trouble you stir up."
"Fair enough," Crimson Queen, "I'm certain your people will be amenable to staying once they learn of the raid of the Auctioneer's sale by the MLJ. A raid you arranged for."
"So, blackmail, is it?" Goldilocks asked.
"It is," Crimson Queen smugly confirmed her intent.
"Then I inform Lena Luthor to reveal Luthor El-Fail's location to his father," Goldilocks warned Crimson Queen .
"You'd threaten my child?" Crimson Queen went cold.
"I'd reunite a family. A family Lex is eager to resume having a relationship with," Goldilocks stated, "As befits my reputation."
"You know what I am," Crimson Queen seethed.
"I also know you haven't fed in some time. So while you would kill me, it wouldn't be easy for you. And in the advent of my death, the 'all clear' signal wouldn't be sent to Lena on time and she would inform her brother of where his son is," Goldilocks explained.
"I'll see you in Hell one day," Crimson Queen promised.
"And I'm certain you'll be beside me," Goldilocks countered, "Given what you are."
Blood trickled off of Crimson Queen's clenched fists owing to her long, extraordinarily hard, and lethally sharp fingernails. Goldilocks was amused, "You're dripping on your carpet made from polar bear pelts."
Lex Luthor had killed Crimson Queen in order to acquire sole custody over his heir. But Crimson Queen's body was salvageable. Aradia Morningstar herself assigned the succubus that came to inhabit Crimson Queen's body. Since the brain chemically stored memory, the succubus had all of her memories. And the personalities had nearly matched, so not even the Queen's sister, Scarlet Rose, had known the difference.
Something Scarlet Rose regretted when Disco Mummy offered to "cure" Crimson Queen. But the offer was contingent on Crimson Queen agreeing to what surmounted to an exorcism. So the succubus refused well aware that it meant Scarlet Rose's mummification and damnation in this life before the next.
"This isn't over," Crimson Queen warned.
"I'd be honestly disappointed if it were," Goldilocks confessed.
In a bedroom equipped with external locks Oracle awoke. Even without her glasses she knew she wasn't home. As her stupor faded, she recalled the kidnapping. And that she'd hit the failsafe button equipped in her watch. Jim Olsen's signal watch was primitive compared to Oracle's. Her chair had obviously been left behind to force her rely on her captors for peeing privileges and any mobility. Obviously designed to introduce Stockholm Syndrome, it was also clumsy in its execution. Oracle didn't expect her supposed interrogation to be so obvious.
Oracle's list of enemies was endless. Corporation hated her because every payroll in in the known world generated small percentages of payroll and profits that weren't easily quantifiable as whole decimals. But when skimmed from the top and clumped together after currency conversions, Oracle had earned enough in a month to equip and sustain her for decades to come.
Then her surveillance of the super villain set had drawn the notice of no fewer notables than the Calculator, Hack, Calendar Man, and Byte. Of course, Hack and Calendar Man were too busy being dead to find her. Byte was defended against by a surging firewall that detected Byte's unique current/signal signature and surged the telecom lines with electricity. That would repel her. The Calculator was an entirely different animal.
Noah Kuttler was her opposite number. His information brokerage and opportunity/employment referral service had ballooned as third- and fourth-tier superheroes abandoned their quests and joined their enemies in villainy. And Calculator charged for his services. Oracle operated pro bono.
With the notable exceptions of sponsorships from Starrware, Smoak Tech, and mysterious gifts from Bruce Wayne, Charise Carnes, Jaina Hudson, and even Kord Industries, Oracle had to generate her own funding. Legal advisement came free from such notables as Kate Spencer, and Barbara Gordon who had been the first Oracle before she discarded the identity to focus on police work. Oracle had briefly worked with ARGUS and the Meta-Human Response Division before she saw through Gen. Lane and Amanda Waller's ambitions.
Jackson Mason was already campaigning to transform his emergency swearing in as President a legitimized reality. But Mason had the folly to pardon Lex Luthor, a blanket pardon for any crimes he had, and could have, committed. And Luthor was once again running for the Oval Office. And he was a runaway favorite in the polls.
Calculator had been no small part of those events. He'd found something in Mason's past to compel the issuance of the pardon. But Oracle had leverage over Kuttler. Felicity Smoak was more than the CEO of Smoak Tech, more than the hacker leader known as Overwatch, she was the Calculator's long lost and estranged daughter. Which meant Felicity had tracked and studied her father for over two decades. And she knew him more intimately than he knew himself.
And it was Felicity that arranged for a seven-pronged hacker attack on the Calculator. An event that had hit all nine of the Calculator's information and processing hubs. With his accumulated wealth, it wouldn't halt his activities for long but it would slow him down as he rebuilt his infrastructure. But Oracle's abduction mere weeks afterwards wasn't even remotely suspicious.
Oracle pushed herself towards the headboard and the wall until she was upright and seated. Pulling her legs to her, she pulled her knees tight. Rather than seeking comfort, she was checking her stashes in ankle boots. The right boot held three vials of purest adrenalin and two more vials of concentrated antihistamine. The left boot held other specialty items. The advantage of not feeling discomfort below the waist. She removed an adrenal shot and jabbed her stomach with it. Then given that the bed butted against the wall, she dropped her discard to the floor. She hoped she wouldn't be in whomever's custody long enough for it to be discovered.
She heard, rather than saw, the bolts being thrown and the doorknob turned. And her first thought as the Crimson Queen entered was that someone had a red and black fetish. As the Queen sat down across from the bed, Oracle could see it was also a Goth fetish.
"And you are?" Oracle asked sarcastically, "Besides my abductor, I mean."
"That's right. You can't see well enough to recognize me," she recalled, "I am called the Crimson Queen."
"Nebulous," Oracle retorted.
"Coming from 'Oracle'?" Crimson Queen snorted.
"Do you have a shorter name?" Oracle asked.
"Do you?" Crimson Queen was just barely mildly amused.
"Some people refer to me as 'O'," Oracle divulged, "Anyone call you CQ?"
"Not and lived," Crimson Queen laced her words with menace.
"So what's on the menu? Torture? Enhanced Interrogation? Boredom, sweat, and tears?" Oracle wondered.
"That depends upon your level of cooperation," Crimson Queen admitted.
"So, no medicinal incentives?" Oracle had to know.
"That spot in the crook of your elbow is where I injected them in your sleep. They should have already taken effect," Crimson Queen delighted in revealing.
"Well, shit on a stick. I guess I'm screwed," Oracle antagonized her.
Crimson Queen wouldn't admit it aloud but she was baffled over how Oracle had seemingly immunized herself. So she left the room and spoke with Goldilocks, "I shall be requiring the assistance of your teammates."
"Name them," Goldilocks requested. Armed with knowledge, Goldilocks returned with the three women along three additional witnesses.
"An audience isn't recommended," Crimson Queen advised.
"I think it is," Goldilocks rebutted her.
"You're worried," Crimson Queen realized.
"I will be until I have confirmation that Oracle didn't manage to alert one of her clients that she was under duress," Goldilocks stated, "Or that we were involved. I should begin to have said confirmation within the hour."
The front door slammed open and Rival slid across the fur carpet. Goldilocks shrugged at the intrusion, "Or by now."
"A group of costumes are skulking about the property. They taking up position from each point of the compass to attempt an entrance," Rival reported.
"Plan B," Goldilocks instructed, "You three on me."
Shadow Thief, Hazard, and Mist exited the condo. Goldilocks gave Crimson Queen her own look of menace, "Take care of my girls."
In the hallway, Injusticers were headed to the lobby. Goldilocks stopped Hazard, "I need you here as a failsafe."
But…" Hazard tried to protest.
"Becky, you're a secret weapon. Even to us," Goldilocks admitted, "I'll send you help as I can."
Hazard subsided at that.
"I need our impertinent guest softened up," Crimson Queen announced, "Psycho Pirate, if you please. I want her to experience raw terror."
The Medusa Mask not only granted Regina Hayden the ability to inflict emotional responses based upon her facial expressions but it also made her an emotional vampire that drank in the energy of those same responses. Regina slipped on the Medusa Mask ad then topped it off with her tri-corner hat to make her piratical garb replete.
Psycho Pirate entered the room and Crimson Queen watched from the open doorway, "Hello, little ducky."
Unfortunately, Psycho Pirate didn't need to be clearly seen for her facial expression to register its impact. Oracle's defiance greatly amused Regina. She'd be broken soon enough. Like her distant relative, Roger Hayden, Regina was addicted to the emotional rushes she received from her victims. Her own "quickening" as it were.
While Oracle screamed and howled in abject terror, Crimson Queen thought of the alternatives she could have employed. Thanks to all the interdimensional refugees, the vampyr walked this Earth again. The Anti Monitor had paved the way for Cain, Andrew Bennet, Mary Seward, and Vlad Drakul to cross over from a doomed Earth they had ruled. A world where humanity's champions were as twisted as their vampire overlords. Val-Zod had been Superman, the New God Fear Lantern named Bekka was considered a Wonder Woman, and Kurt Langstrom was a vampiric Batman.
Crimson Queen had sensed the return of the vampyr to this mortal coil. Vampires being hosts to demonic forces that were cousins to her own. Only this world's Andrew Bennet had even had his soul returned to him. He'd been a powerful champion curbing the vampires' excesses but had still died with the entire subspecies thereby ending the millennia long conflict between vampires and the Homo Magi.
Crimson Queen didn't yet trust Cain and his brood. Cain had been possessed since the death of his brother Abel. And, like this Earth's Cain, this one was marked by the Almighty. But Cain was also a willing participant with his demon rider. The others had all died like the Crimson Queen and found their bodies inhabited by foul spirits. The original souls cast into Hell to await the Final Judgment and to be cast into the Lake of Fire afterwards. And Lady Blaze had mercilessly convinced the inhabitants of Purgatory that they could ascend out of Hell into Paradise. Purposefully neglecting to mention their very presence in Hell meant they were essentially judged already. Hell was just a preview. But giving them hope was the greatest torment Lady Blaze could inflict.
The hoarse screams brought Crimson Queen back to the present, "Enough."
Psycho Pirate persisted. Crimson Queen turned Psycho Pirate away from Oracle, "I said enough."
"You aren't affected," Regina balefully realized.
"I'm hardly human," Crimson Queen advised her, "She's on the verge of a heart attack. I need her alive."
Crimson Queen swept her hand towards the door while Oracle hyperventilated. While the Queen discussed business with a second Injusticer, Oracle shot up with a second adrenal injection. The flight of fight syndrome it engaged in her steadied her. She was ready to continue this fight.
"You've studied the notes and chord progressions?" Crimson Queen asked the Fiddler.
"Yah, but this ain't hardly music," Izzy Bowen complained.
"It's better," Crimson Queen graced her with a rare smile,. "It's magic."
It was actually a series of harmonics the real Crimson Queen had developed to induce a sonic hypnosis. And Fiddler's ability to harness and focus sonics made her the ideal delivery system disregarding the usual equipment the Crimson Queen would usually employ. But the specialty items were traceable and Lena Luthor had only authorized this field trip owing to its discretionary nature. And Crimson Queen was beholden to Lena since the fall of Bailya and the loss of her crown. Lex hadn't made an allowance for her when he essentially bought her country. But Lena had brought her to Metropolis and created a haven for her and Luthor El-Fadil. All without her brother's knowledge.
"Let me prep our guest," Crimson Queen requested.
Oracle was on the floor hugging her knees. Crimson Queen would've pitied her if she were capable of it. But regardless, her war with Angelica Blaze would have casualties. She lifted Oracle and placed her back onto the bed.
"Why?" a shaky Oracle asked.
"It's necessary," Crimson Queen lied, "You'll see very soon."
Outside the Century, Killer Wasp landed from his aerial patrol, "Rival's right. We have masks approaching from four points, in groups of four to five."
Goldilocks activated her throat mike, "Attention people, we've got hostiles, four to five to a group. Stick to your assigned zones. When, not if, you put your opponents down, move off and assist anyone who needs it. In addition, Winnie has some party favors."
"Indeed, I do," Winifred Schott, Winslow's older sister, confirmed it. She activated the primary programs on a half dozen laptops and then deployed her helicopter and biplane drones. Each had a facial recognition targeting system. Any non-Justicer in the outer parking lots would be targeted and killed. Toygirl activated a squadron of tanks that fired actual .223 caliber rounds. They were governed by a similar program. Lastly, Toygirl unleashed three "wind-up" robots that clunkily marched to battle. She'd booted an additional laptop for them.
"Santa is delivering my toys," Toygirl radioed her announcement.
"Holy shit! These aircraft are lethal," Arrow radioed, "A helicopter just lopped a guy's head off."
"And the damn tanks fire real bullets!" Wild Dog relayed from under cover.
"That's why we shoot back, dumbass," Starling grated.
"We also have larger issues," Arkham Knight advised everyone.
"How much larger?" Street Avenger was evidently unhappy with the situation at hand.
"Robots. Big ones with flamethrowers. But they're awkward as hell. Best play is to knock them over," Arkham Knight suggested.
A loud clang resonated before Black Bison responded, "It's a good call. They don't have joints so they can't get back up. But…what the hell? Watch out! They can still spray flames into the air."
"So if we reach them, we have a solid play," Red Hood opined.
"What do you mean 'if'?" Green Arrow asked.
"Flamethrowers, weren't you listening?" Arsenal chided him.
"Archers, you take the aircraft. Gun toting hillbillies, you have the tanks," Arkham Knight instructed.
"Damn! Sparrow's got it going on!" Starling exclaimed.
"Is that a come on?" Sparrow sounded annoyed.
"Take it however you want to," Starling promised.
"…I'll take it under advisement," Sparrow still seemed wary.
"If you'd stop the damn flirting you'd be through already," Ravager admonished Starling.
Ravager was with Squire, of course, and joined by Crimson Avenger. Their objective was the front doors.
As every squad called in, "All clears", Arkham Knight issued the next warning, "Pay attention folks. The Injustice Society is still here and they look pissed."
Oracle resisted the Fiddler with every ounce of her heart, mind, and soul. The nearly unbearable pain in her ears nearly broke Oracle. But her ear drums split and blood burst from her eras. Fiddler mercifully stopped playing her violin.
"She's lost her ear drums and more than half of her hearing, I can kick it up and play through it but it'll kill her," Fiddler warned.
Crimson Queen observed that Oracle's nose was bleeding as well and she was spitting out blood, "We can't have that, can we?"
"Hatter! You're up," Crimson Queen commanded.
Alice the Mad Hatter wore a manic grin. Fiddler objected, "You keep up this pressure and she'll die."
"Mercy doesn't become those in our profession," Crimson Queen admonished her.
"But if she dies she can't serve your purpose," Fiddler pointed out.
Which swayed the Queen, "Hatter, stand by. Fiddler, Psycho Pirate tend, to Oracle's needs."
"I don't…" Psycho Pirate began to protest but Crimson Queen's menacing glare quieted her.
Izzy saw that Oracle had apparently passed out. Fiddler thought it a mercy considering what Alice would do to her. She sat food and water out for when the hacker woke up. Psycho Pirate swabbed the mattress where Oracle had lost bladder control.
"I am not a piss mop," Regina angrily declared.
"You are for now," Fiddler replied.
In the Century's east grounds Arsenal encountered Copperhead. This was a new, and she considered it, improved Copperhead. Larissa Diaz was the latest to own the name. Unlike her immediate predecessor, Copperhead didn't possess venom sacs to inject through her fangs. But she carried an injector glove. She lacked a tail. But that hadn't affected her kill ratio.
She smiled as Arsenal threatened her with his crossbow. She easily slinked around the shot and hit him with her body. He rolled with the blow and extended a fighting staff. She saw his artificial arm and wondered what that story was. Maybe she'd ask him before she terminated him.
Cheshire assessed Elisa Fulcrum. The woman wore cleats with knee highs with soccer shin guards, basketball shorts, football pads and jersey, topped off with a hockey goalie's mask and she wielded a razor edged hockey stick. Obviously one of her stepfather's acolytes. Which made Jade Nguyen wonder what had happened to Crusher Crock.
"Let me guess, you're one of Sportsmaster's replacements," Cheshire said wearily.
"I'm the only replacement," Elisa told her, "There was a competition and I survived it when no one else could."
"So what do I call you?" Cheshire was curious how genderbent Elisa felt.
"Sportsmistress," Elisa answered.
So Sportsmistress wasn't butch enough to want be Sportsmaster. Actually, she was surprisinglly feminine for someone coached by Sportsmaster. Cheshire turned her sais to a usable combat position and assumed a fighting stance.
"Let's see if you're as tough as my stepfather," Cheshire challenged her.
"The last challenge in the competition was getting past Crusher. No one will face that challenge ever again," Sportsmistress revealed. Proving she was as ruthless as Sportsmaster and Tigress had been in their prime. Paula Nguyen had paid with her spine. Crusher it seemed had paid with his life. Jade prayed to the Buddha that Lian would never lose a parent that way.
"Your pops told all about you," Sportsmistress warned Cheshire, "Including how to beat you."
"You'd be the first," Cheshire stated.
Green Arrow fired broadheads at Geo-Mancer, who rippled the ground. Leaping into the air, Green Arrow was accurate enough to pierce Geo-Mancer's leg. But when he came to land on his feet, the ground swallowed him.
"I checked my almanac and found this is the day you die," Page Munroe, the Calendar Girl told Wild Dog.
"Why you gotta be up in that?" he asked.
"My appointment book has a date with destiny penciled in for today. And you're not in it," Calendar Girl retorted.
"Now you're just being cold," Wild Dog complained.
"No, this is cold," Calendar Girl shot him several times at point blank rage, "Now I can scratch that off my to-do list."
One entire squad faced the undead threat of Solomon Grundy. Arkham Knight had two archers and two shooters with him. Red Arrow and Arrow being the former with Street Avenger and Red Hood being the latter. Still, considering the manpower generally required to bring Grundy down, they were severely understaffed.
"For those unawares, don't let him grab you or hit you. You probably will either die or never fully recover," Arkham Knight warned everyone.
"Jesus!" Arrow was stunned as his opening broadhead crumpled against Grundy's skin.
"Go for the eyes," Red Arrow suggested. They both did so and while Grundy swatted at the arrows and they still struck, he just rubbed them as though removing bothersome dirt, "Or I could be mistaken.
"Grenades," Red Hood suggested.
Arkham Knight joined in with Street Avenger with pitching live grenades at Grundy. But they merely served to annoy Solomon Grundy. Red Hood summed it up.
"We're really screwed," she opined.
While Arkham Knight's team struggled in the north, a third squad in the south faced against the injustice Society. Killer Wasp had chosen Black Bison to fight. An amateur heavyweight boxer, Killer Wasp chose John for his size. And he admittedly had better fighting skills. But Black Bison summoned his anima spirits and decided to take the fight out of Killer Wasp.
Starling was confronted by Baby Doll, "Weren't you a TV star?"
"My mom was. Then she was a crook because people wouldn't give her any other kind of job," Barbara "Barbie" Dahl reflected on her mother, Marian.
"Whoa! Defensive much?" Starling asked, "Your mom was a crook `cause she fell in love with Killer Croc."
That much had been true on her Earth as well as Earth Prime. Baby Doll threw a tantrum, "Just keep underestimating me. You won't live to regret it."
Sparrow found Shiv's primary weapon a curiosity as she drew her escrima sticks. As the fight began, Shiv was proficient enough. But the weight and balance of the staff was thrown off by the cobra head weighting a single end. It was good for braining people but lousy for defense. So Shiv tossed it at Sparrow and the cybernetic snake revealed itself as it came to "life".
Finally, Shiv popped all of her body blades out through her skin. Sparrow began to wonder how man weird surprises Cindy Burman had for her.
Gentleman Ghost had ben rescued from Angor by the Emerald Empress acting on behalf of the Anti Monitor. He'd promised her the Antimatter Universe to rule in exchange for temporary loyalties. The Eyes of Ekron had easily located Gentleman Ghost and returned him to Earth Prime. From there she went to deal a decisive blow against Saturn Queen.
She'd even delivered him right to the Injustice Society. Only, now he faced a pissed off Speedy.
Squire's trio had destroyed Toygirl's "party favors" and were blocked from entering the building by Goldilocks, Ragdoll, Mist, and Shadow Thief. Goldilocks generally unhappy as she addressed her fellow brit, "You shouldn't have come."
"You shouldn't have kidnapped my friend," Squire angrily replied.
Goldilocks didn't seem bothered by the Outlaws but she still cursed, "Bloody hell."
Squire hesitated for a second. Goldilocks had left a clue as to how find her. She'd pointed out that clue. She'd worn the radioactive iodine to begin with. It all said she wanted Oracle found. But how was she willing to help that happen?
Andy Nash had the ability as Mist to convert her body into a particulate fog. A sentient fog that could harden portions of herself into hands and limbs. Ragdoll had suggested Mist blanket Ravager so he could stealthily approach and kill Ravager unawares. But his vision was just as obscured. And then he had twin piercing pains in his abdomen.
"Should have stayed clear, Merkel," Ravager pulled her swords free of his body.
Before he collapsed, he simply said, "Ow."
Mist responded by attempting to beat Ravager senseless.
Crimson Avenger saw the world in red, black, and white. Black and white were shadows and objects. Red was the blood in living creatures. She could, by inclination, create a blood born toxin and coat her bullets in it. If the wound failed to kill her target, the resultant infection would within an hour.
Aviva Matula's Daemonite built synth skin enabled her to become a permeable shadow. It also made it possible to construct solid shadow objects like blades and simple shields akin to Nightshade. Even with Crimson Avenger's unique vision, Lee Travis could see Shadow Thief's blackened state even if she couldn't perceive any blood flow. So the question simply became: could a shadow die?
Goldilocks had reinforced Hazard's position before anyone could gain access to Unit 35B where the Crimson Queen resided with her prisoner. Tempest Fugit, the Clock Queen joined Hazard's defense. Toygirl had retreated with a literal bag of tricks. Rival was there as well as the Shade.
Becky Sharpe's ability to bend probabilities made her one of the single-most powerful Injusticers. Clock Queen's ability to warp time made her another. Toygirl's malicious genius made her a constant threat. And Rival and the Shade were veteran members of the Injustice Society precisely because of their powers and creativity in using them.
Rival had bene one of the original Flash's enduring foes through the decades. Shade had been a founding member of the Injustice Gang and then the Secret Society. When the Wizard and Johnny Sorrow revived the Injustice Society, Shade and Rival had been among the original recruits. Icicle and Tigress had been the others along with Shiv. Everyone else had come later in various stages.
Hazard viewed Tempest Fugit as something of a professional rival. And just as Becky Sharpe wore a dealer's uniform, Clock Queen was bedecked in steampunk attire. Replete with a pocket watch that hung from her neck between her breasts. And she was far too attractive for Hazard's comfort.
Alice the Mad Hatter came upon a revived Oracle. The young woman had hydrated, eaten, and shot up with another stimulant. She'd overhead Crimson Queen's reluctance to treat her even remotely with the realm of humane consideration. And now she'd sent a refugee from a Disney movie.
"My, my, my, look what the Red Queen has to you. If perchance we sail, what should we do?" Alice asked.
Oracle blinked. Was Alice really speaking in rhymes? Suddenly it was clear how Alice could get on with Goldilocks.
"Curiouser and curiouser, how you awake? It certainly isn't for my sake. And so aware, how is that when you've been trampled on with such flare?" Alice continued in verse.
Oracle had a sneaking suspicion Alice had caught on to her stimulant usage. She decidedly did not trust this loon even as Alice sat down beside her.
"Do pray for a brand-new day?" Alice asked as Oracle flinched
"Do what you going to do and be done with already," Oracle grated.
"Oh me, oh my. You believe you're going die," Alice confronted Oracle's exact fear, "I will not drain the brain but rather find the mind."
Oracle wished Red Alice was here instead. At least Beth Kane would simply shoot her rather than slowly kill her with horrible rhymes.
"No see here, have no fear," Alice said cheerily as she touched a forefinger to Oracle's forehead. And her brain exploded.
Copperhead hissed at the first blow to her head. And the second. But by the third through the fifth she was too dazed to respond or even try to dodge anymore. Cheshire had taught her husband how to fight with a staff. It was exceptionally appropriate for him because his mechanical hand had a grip well beyond most people's capacity to try and wrest the staff away from him.
After Arsenal had knocked Copperhead out, he decided check on Cheshire. Not that she'd even remotely need his help.
Cheshire had to admit Sporstmistress exceeded Crusher Crock at everything he'd ever tried to excel at. Something that must have infuriated him hence his challenge to her to kill him and claim his title. He hadn't fared very well it seemed. Which pleased Jade to no end.
But after evading exploding hockey pucks, Cheshire made to close the gap between her and Sportsmistress. Only to find out, infuriatingly enough, Sportsmistress' expertise included boxing and judo. When Cheshire finally knocked her out, Jade was disgruntled to discover Elisa Fulcrum had the face of a super model. Cheshire prepared to kill her.
"That's not the code," Arsenal reminded her, "We're not getting paid to kill the Injusticers. Word gets out and we'll blow our cover as assassins for hire."
"Who said it's a cover?" Cheshire asked.
"We talked about this and we agreed with Jason's rule," Arsenal stated.
"She's damn lucky you're here," Cheshire vented.
"C'mon, let's look for trouble," Arsenal suggested.
"And there had better be some," Cheshire growled.
Geo-Mancer was distracted by Arsenal and Cheshire coming for him. All the while, Green Arrow dug himself out. He put a taser arrow in Geo-Mancer. Then went and kicked the body a few times.
"See?" Cheshire pointed out, "Are going to lecture him?"
"He didn't kill anyone," Arsenal replied.
"It'd blow our cover," Green Arrow argued.
Cheshire just glared at Arsenal.
Wild Dog was grateful Calendar Girl had rushed her initial shot and barely missed. The woman was using armor piercing rounds. Wild Dog couldn't compete with that except by hiding behind an engine block and returning fire when he could. He was under the distinct impression Calendar Girl was enjoying herself immensely.
He heard a cry of pain and rose to see Green Arrow give him the "all clear". Arsenal and Cheshire were with him. When Wild Dog joined them he found Page Munroe's mask dislodged and she was bleeding. She'd also been snared by a bolo arrow. Which meant she'd been helpless when Cheshire delivered the beating.
"She'll live," she said curtly. Wild Dog kept his peace.
"Snare his legs!" Arkham Knight ordered.
Street Avenger and Red Hood when to either side of Grundy while Arrow and Red Arrow unleashed cable arrows that snared Grundy's feet. As he reached to grab hold of Red Hood, he fell flat on his face. Arkham Knight slapped a limpet mine on the back of Grundy's head and detonated it. Solomon Grundy went from struggling to rise to dead weight. Literally.
"Let's move," Arkham Knight insisted, "The LAPD has to be on their way. They can manhandle Grundy and whoever else."
"It'll keep them from harassing the homeless," Street Avenger was bitter.
Black Bison knocked out the impressive Killer Wasp with a single punch. Something Killer Wasp would never live down. Especially after going six rounds with Wildcat.
Starling was ducking and weaving between parked cars as Baby Doll unloaded a Magnum .44 at her. Starling wouldn't have ever guessed someone with child-like proportions could even handle such a weapon.
Then the gunfire ceased. Starling heard nearby footsteps and jumped up to shoot whoever it was. Only it was Arsenal.
"Easy! Your thorn is taken care of," he promised.
Cheshire casually strolled up and Starling asked, "Is she…?"
"She's breathing. Everyone keeps talking about not doing freebies," Cheshire sounded bored.
"Well, I still wanna kick the shit out of someone," Starling admitted.
"The party has just started," Arsenal promised.
Shiv was reeling even after all the training the Dragon King had given her before she killed her father. Sparrow was systematically taking her apart. And a few select blows to the head ended Shiv's morning.
Sparrow was pleased. Her first battle against a super villain had been successful. But the day was young yet.
Gentleman Ghost decided to employ discretionary valor and retreat after he'd been surrounded by Speedy, Arsenal, Cheshire, Starling, and Sparrow.
"Dammit! Come back and fight like a…whatever you are," Starling grated.
"Bad morning?" Sparrow asked.
"Just peachy," Starling growled.
Crimson Avenger's bullets couldn't kill Shadow Thief but they did inflict an extraordinary amount of pain. So she retreated. Arrow double tased Mist's particulates and she reverted back to her human state. It was down to Squire versus Goldilocks. Only Goldilocks wasn't resisting.
"Unit 35B. That's where she's holding Oracle," Goldilocks revealed.
"Who?" Squire asked.
"The Crimson Queen. Now make it look good," Goldilocks requested.
"Meaning?" she inquired.
"Meaning you can't blow your cover nor can I," Goldilocks simply said.
"You're playing a long game," Squire realized as every Outlaw gathered around.
"Yes, now do it," Goldilocks demanded.
Squire swung her staff and bashed the side of Goldilocks' head. She went down like limp ragdoll. Even Ragdoll had more resilience when he collapsed.
"You were right about her," Arkham Knight realized.
"I wish we could help somehow," Squire said wistfully.
"We know her secret. She'll contact us when she needs our help," Arkham Knight predicted.
"She mentioned Unit 35B. We have to assume there's a rearguard waiting for us," Ravager reminded them.
"Then let's examine our options," Arkham Knight decided.
"Amazing," Crimson Queen studied Oracle's twitches and evolving facial expressions, "She's still fighting. Oracle, this ends when you agree to do me a simple service."
"Screw you," Oracle struggled to say.
"That was so rude and with blazing attitude," Alice commented.
The rhymes were grating on Crimson Queen's nerves as well. Oracle was traversing Alice's twisted Wonderland fantasy. She prided herself on her intellect and resiliency but they were hardly useful in the nightmare landscape she was seeking an escape from.
And then she came upon Deadshot. The man that had severed her spine with one shot. She'd tried to be grateful to even have survived. ARGUS wasn't known for leaving breathing witnesses behind. And Amanda Waller knew she was still alive. But had contacted Oracle and "graciously" accepted that paralysis was enough of a warning. When Oracle left the hospital, she'd managed to track every electronic and physical document pertaining to her existence and destroyed them.
And Oracle was born, the woman who didn't exist. And she began to wage her own war. She targeted black ops programs and black site prisons. She began brokering information to lesser tier superheroes that didn't otherwise have access to her level of support.
"Oracle, you have to relent. I won't stop until you agree to my terms or expire," Crimson Queen warned her.
Oracle felt the truth behind the words but had to buy Squire more time.
"I wouldn't clap. I detect a trap," Alice warned.
"How do you mean?" Crimson Queen was deliberately obtuse.
"Don't be a dope while she still has hope," Alice advised.
"Release her. Perhaps she'll be reasonable after all," Crimson Queen commanded.
Alice sullenly retreated from Oracle's mind, "I had to try because you might still die."
Crimson Queen knew Alice was seriously overestimating Oracle's chances of even inflicting the slightest harm, "I have it from here."
"You shouldn't follow because her words are hollow," Alice made one last appeal.
"Leave us!" Crimson Queen snarled. It would take an exorcism to kill the Crimson Queen. But holy relics and sacraments could harm her. But how would Oracle even realize she was a succubus? She'd killed most that ever knew.
The elevator doors opened for a single elevator and Arkham Knight, Street Avenger, Wild Dog and Starling surged out of it firing down the hallway. Clock Queen had opened her pocket watch while the doors opened. The four Outlaws and their bullets froze in midair.
"Rival, you can move fast enough to function normally in the temporal stasis field," Tempest Fugit alerted him.
Rival almost came to a dead stop when he hit Clock Queen's time distortion. Before he did anything, he turned each bullet around and gave them flick with his fingers. Then he pulled the pistols out of Outlaw's hand. Exiting the field, Rival dismantled the guns. But he was shaking and out of breath. He was, after all, nearly one hundred years old.
Clock Queen snapped her watch shut and the bullets flew into their shooters. Body armor spared their lives but the impacts still knocked them off of their feet. Rival sneered.
"Worthless trash," he said disdainfully.
"Firearms are a necessary evil in our work," Shade lectured him.
"I wasn't talking about the guns," Rival informed him.
"This was too easy," Clock Queen opined.
The windows behind them shattered and Team Arrow came through the frames.
"Winnie! Get down!" Hazard tackled Toygirl as arrows passed by overhead. Everyone else hugged a wall. Squire led a squad out of the stairwell while Red Hood's emerged from the second elevator.
"Now is a good time, Hazard," Clock Queen insisted.
Hazard could sense probabilities roll around dice, twisting and contorting. If Hazard threw any combination other than a seven, bad luck would befall her foes. She rolled…a perfect seven.
"Aw crap," Hazard bemoaned.
"What is it?" Toygirl was bewildered.
"A bad roll," Hazard sighed.
"What the eff does that mean?" Clock Queen wanted to know.
The metal shoring beneath them began to groan and Hazard remarked, "That."
Screams and a few shouts filled the air as the floor gave way and continued to do so for two more levels. Arkham Knight turned to Red Hood, "Take a team down there."
"I really don't think that was intentional," Squire observed.
"At least it wasn't us," Ravager shrugged.
"35B is across that hole," Arkham Knight pointed out.
"Clear the hall," Arrow instructed. He and Red Arrow fired cables down the hall, embedding them in the steel housing framework for the elevators. Then they attached a dolly grip to each line. The Outlaws simply zip lined across.
"Arrows, standby. Squire, Ravager, Black Bison and Crimson Avenger on me," Arkham Knight instructed before kicking the front door in.
They fanned out to find Psycho Pirate, Fiddler, and Alice waiting for them. Psycho Pirate donned the Medusa Mask, "This is all me."
She attempted to terrify everyone but Arkham Knight's helmet viewing system filtered out her power. Crimson Avenger simply didn't see the way human beings typically did. Squire and Ravager closed their eyes but they were still in Psycho Pirate's grip. Black Bison didn't know what was going on or how to remotely fight it. Arkham Knight grazed Psycho Pirate's temple with a bullet and the Medusa Mask fell from her face as well as knocked her over backward.
"Jack Sparrow is down," he announced.
"She was goin' easy on y'all," Fiddler commented as she began to play. The original Fiddler engineered a violin that controlled minds. Virtuoso weaponized it. Izzy Bowen was a meta-human that created shockwaves from ambient sound. Or alternatively she could amplify sounds. At that moment she chose to do both.
Arkham Knight was blown back through the wall into the hallway. Speedy and Green Arrow fired off taser arrows and brought Fiddler down low.
Arkham Knight came back through the hold, "Careful. We don't know anything about this one."
Alice looked concerned, "Oh my, oh my! Is it my time to die?"
Everyone exchanged puzzled glances. Arkham Knight chose Black Bison to respond, "Go easy on her. She can't weigh more than ninety pounds.
Alice's began to glow. Ravager groaned, "We're effed."
Black Bison rolled his shoulders, spun, and pushed Ravager through the remainder of the wall. Arrow called to Arkham Knight, "We're on it."
"Bloody hell," Squire groaned, "She's a psychokinetic. She's controlling Bison."
"Shall we see if we can all play or do you think you can save the day?" Alice snickered.
"Bollox," Squire felt the pressure in her head.
"What's with the freaky rhymes?" Arkham Knight asked.
"Look how she's dressed," Squire struggled to say, "She thinks she's Alice from Wonderland."
"Yes, yes, give yourself a hand and join me in that wonderous land," Alice clapped her hands together.
The pressure let off of Squire, "She has limits. She got John because she touched him. She couldn't do more than pressure me to get within arm's reach."
"Now you've spoiled all my fun. Beware, you'd better run," Alice continued her litany.
Oh, bother," Squire sighed.
Ravager was engaged in a hand to hand conflict with Black Bison. Red Arrow had wrapped him in a titanium cable but he'd snapped it. Ravager could only groan, "Oh shit."
She leapt into the air and came down with a tremendous punch that finally dazed him. `bout effin' time, she thought, "Okay buddy, let's end this."
But he just crouched on one knee. Then he shook his head and his eyes cleared. Hallelujah, amen, Ravager gratefully thought to herself.
"Beware the Queen of Hearts. She'll pin you to the wall with darts," Alice remarked.
"What the eff'?" Arkham Knight blurted.
"She's scared," Crimson Avenger explained, "Her blood flow has dramatically increased. She's scared of the Crimson Queen."
"It's probably legitimate. There are…stories regarding the Crimson Queen's reported death and resurrection," Squire warned them.
"Let's all pause and give a round of applause," Alice demanded.
"She has got to stop that," Arkham Knight was getting frustrated.
"We're at a standstill," Crimson Avenger acknowledged, "If we harm her, what does that do to Black Bison?"
"If you'll wait just a few, I have an offer for you," Alice released Black Bison from her control.
Black Bison came in, "What the hell has been happening?"
"You got the whammy put on you," Ravager pointed at Alice.
"The little blonde?' he asked.
"Precisely," Ravager certainly wanted to confirm that.
"Now that he's aware, let us all leave, it's only fair," Alice stated. Psycho Pirate and Fiddler were back on their feet.
"Where's Oracle?" Squire demanded to know.
Alice pointed at the door with multiple locks. Squire groaned, "I should've known."
"You must hurry for the Red Queen is working in a flurry," Alice advised, "She'll twist a mind on a dime."
Squire opened the door and ran into the bedroom. The crack of an impact on flesh was followed by Squire's body flying from the room into a wall and caving in the sheetrock before she fell lifelessly to the floor. Ravager was immediately at her side.
"Well, it's good of you try but we really must say goodbye," Alice hustled her teammates out.
"Let them go," Arkham Knight called to Team Arrow.
"To whom do I have the displeasure of addressing?" Crimson Queen called out. And then she spotted Ravager tending to Squire, "Oh, the so-called 'Outlaws'. You seem exceptionally merciful this day in the face of your reputation as stone cold killers."
"We aren't being paid to kill," Arkham Knight replied, "But for you, we'll do it pro bono."
"Interesting thought. Does Nyssa Raatko exert more than financial influence over you?" Crimson Queen inquired.
"Would you like to find out?" he asked in reply.
"Ooh, just bluster and bravado. I feel tingly all over," Crimson Queen tried to ooze sex appeal.
Oracle pulled her close to whisper to her. What Crimson Queen had missed as Oracle pulled a flask from her left boot and unscrewed the cap, "I know what you are."
She doused Crimson Queen's face in holy water. The succubus screamed in agony as her flesh was seared off. Running out of the bedroom, she headed for the bay window and crashed through it to plummet the pavement below.
"I'll repeat myself, what the eff?" Arkham Knight was bewildered over what had just occurred.
"I'm alone now," Oracle called out.
Even blurry, the Arkham Knight made an impression, "Now that's a look."
"Are you okay?" he wondered.
"Maybe in a year or two," she said wearily, "You didn't happen to bring my glasses or my chair? Or preferably both?"
"We have them in our van. You'll have a brief adventure getting there," Arkham Knight warned.
"Oh, goody," she sounded disparaged.
"Bison, you up for carrying her?" Arkham Knight asked.
"She weighs less than the blonde," Black Bison shrugged off the question, "Hello, I'm John."
"Oracle, I hope I'm pleased to meet you," she was still feeling wary, "Where's Squire?"
"Just outside," Black Bison promised.
"Beryl!" Oracle cried upon blurrily seeing Squire checking for broken bones and other sundry damages.
"We finally meet in person," Squire was genuinely happy.
"And you have to be Rose," Oracle gushed.
"I must?" Ravager sounded uncertain.
"This woman cannot talk about you enough. Every text and email she pledges her undying love to you," Oracle embarrassed Squire.
"Really?" Ravager was definitely intrigued.
"Oracle, you know you'll have to move your operation," Squire said glumly.
"Yeah, I know," she was forlorn.
"You can set up with us," Arkham Knight offered, "I've received notice we can permanently base out of Los Angeles. And we can help move your equipment and with any set up you require."
"Thanks but I have set up handled," Oracle thought of KitCat and Overwatch.
Red Hood arrived, "We searched the lower levels and lost the Injusticers."
"What about Arsenal and Cheshire?" he asked.
"They keep repeating the all clear for the lobby like a mantra," Red Hood replied.
"Alice," Squire offered as an explanation.
"God, you don't want her in your head," Oracle groaned, "And her effing rhymes."
"I know, right?" Arkham Knight commiserated.
"I'll have nightmares for month just about the rhymes," Oracle predicted.
"Bison, think you can get our newfound friend across the maw?" Arkham Knight asked.
"Wait! There's a maw?" Oracle sounded panicky.
"Better hurry," Arkham Knight suggested.
A shriek alerted them to Oracle's safe passage. Team Arrow repelled out the window they'd entered through. Everyone else ziplined to reach the elevators. Canvassing the parking lot, they found every Injusticer had departed. Including the severely wounded Ragdoll.
"So you're certain Goldilocks is double agenting the Injustice Society?" Arkham Knight inquired of Squire.
"You saw all the evidence and heard her own statements," Squire replied, "I'd say it's fairly definitive."
"Me too, but it complicates our working relationship with the Injustice Society. Let's say someone contracts us to hit them. Whose to say they aren't actually endeavoring to do something right because of Goldilocks?" Arkham Knight asked.
"I guess we'll find out," Beryl shrugged.
"Any chance we could negotiate a bonus to double tap Alice?" Ravager brought up.
"Don't tempt me," Arkham Knight begged.
Crimson Queen was in her limo. Her driver was horrified by her appearance. Three things would heal her. Time, darkness, and sexual energy. And the darkness and sex would shorten the time. Darkness was abundant even in sunny SoCal if one knew where to turn. And sex was cheap. And refunds were plentiful after she drained the life forces out her sexual conquests.
The Injustice Society retreated to a mansion in the Malibu Hills. It had an infirmary to treat Ragdoll. Unfortunately, Sportsmistress was the only adept at first aid. The others were in a huddle determining who they'd just faced.
"Names and faces have changed but I'd say we fought Red Hood and the Outlaws," Goldilocks shared.
"I didn't see a Red Hood," Rival dismissed the notion.
"The girl with the literal Red Hood," Winnie suggested.
"She can't be in charge," Shade countered, "The man in the nightmarish bat suit, he was in charge."
"And Red Hood and the Outlaws would have executed each and every one of us," Shadow Thief pointed out.
"Oh , what rapture and what joy. A boy like a girl and the girl likes the boy," Alice suddenly spouted.
"Has she missed her meds again?" Killer Wasp wondered.
Goldilocks mulled it over, "Alice, are saying you still have a connection with those whose minds you entered?"
"I'll waste no pun but declare I'm ready to resume my fun," Alice tittered.
"She seized control of Oracle's mind and the big Indian," Fiddler recalled, "An' then Arsenal and Cheshire in the lobby."
"And you influence all of these people?" Clock Queen hazarded a question.
"They are bound with twine for they are now mine," Alice enjoyed herself.
"So we have four Trojans in their ranks," Shiv gleefully realized.
"And computer chick can feed us any kind of data we want," Killer Wasp enthused.
"We'll just pin our expect by date on the calendar," Page Munroe declared, "But wait, that's me."
"We need to take a couple of days off. Rest, recuperate, blow off major steam and just get trashed, "Goldilocks endorsed a plan of action, "I doubt the Outlaws are moving from LA anytime soon. We have time to lay plans."
Mist hung back along with Alice. Goldilocks was intrigued by the unity rather the questions they would ask, "Something on your minds?"
"Are we sure we're in the plan? Virtuoso was and then she just left," Andy Nash fretted,
"Virtuoso was on a quest to rebuild her violin and bow. She obviously didn't think she could that with us," Goldilocks wasn't about to reveal she'd buried Virtuoso in a shallow grace outside of Area 51 after she asked the wrong questions.
"Andy, we are on plan. I know your wants and needs are small, but what your reward will be will exceed all of those desires.," Goldilocks tried to persuade her.
"I guess your right. It just tough seeing who the bad guys are when we're not good guys," Andy admitted.
"Think of it this way: them…bad. Us…good," Goldilocks tried again.
"Okay," Andy brightened, "That's easy enough."
She happily exited to find some fun on the beach. Alice studied Goldilocks, "My what pull to have three bears full. Yet each bear is a fool for they do no not recognize as to where you pull. Can the bears ever be free? Schemes and plots and worry bees shall make us see. If no lives are free then we shall be an epic tragedy."
And Goldilocks knew Alice was aware of all of her plans. Yet, she hadn't narced to the others, Principally because Alice was only tolerated at Goldilocks' insistence.
"Have no fear for you, I am here too," Alice promised.
And Goldilocks would protect Andy…and Alice. Her inner circle could grow. And once it did the very nature of the Injustice Society would change forever. And the world would never expect it.
As stated in the legal prologue, five characters were my invention. I created the Crimson Queen back in 2011. Recent inventions include but aren't limited to: Alice the Mad Hatter, Clock Queen (Tempest Fugit), Sparrow (Laurel Anne Hardy) and Sportsmistress (Elisa Fulcrum). The last is an intellectual rights nightmare because she's a legacy character based upon Crusher Crock/Sportsmaster. That's why it is with no deep regret that I discovered my work could be open sourced or assigned to public domain. Since I'm not an attribution junkie, I opted for public domain. That being said and you're using the character/s, please be polite enough to acknowledge that they aren't your creation/s when asked.