Smallville 2012
. . .
Fury
. . .
Finding the hotel had been the easy part: she knew exactly what kind of haunt Bruce looked for when he was on business – somewhere suitably upmarket that it kept up appearances of the billionaire playboy but equally low-key that he didn't attract unnecessary attention. Besides the billionaire reputation, his vigilante work also necessitated a cover. Zatanna had known him as a child – their parents had been friends – but the last time she'd seen Bruce she'd been performing her magic act in Gotham but attracted the attentions of the wrong guy. Once he'd helped her as his alter ego – Batman, something that she personally found less than intimidating, she'd decided to move to Metropolis, but, not before being led on and being stood up at a restaurant. It was partly her humiliation at being stood up which had prompted her to unmask him the night before. However she'd decided to track him down and see that he was actually alright after the confrontation, it wasn't just his body that had been bruised by the encounter.
Dressed as she was she was bound to attract attention, and although that eliminated the possibility of a stealthy approach she could also work it to her advantage, it was amazing what a pair of fishnet tights and a promise of a magical night could get you, however she had had to wait until night to approach the Hotel in order to ensure she had maximum advantage in the field. Having procured an access key from one of the bellboys she hung around the lobby area, waiting for the right moment, the female receptionist – late forties, tired and formidable-looking left her male counterpart at the desk. There was no reason not to keep up appearances Zatanna mused disapprovingly as the woman swept past her, she should have either had someone see to her roots or dye her hair dark in stead of sporting that bizarre straggly bleached blonde look. She uncrossed her leg and crossed the lobby to the receptionist desk and then leaned across it enough to show some cleavage to the receptionist – a boy in his mid-twenties who from the look of him was probably desperate for some female company…especially if that was what he had to work with everyday.
"May I help you m'am?"
Did she really look like a m'am? She was only in her late-twenties herself but being addressed so formally – hotel protocol or not – was mildly insulting, nevertheless she smiled at the boy as he looked up at her, clearly mildly in awe of her presence.
"Yes," she said warmly, "I'm looking for the room number of an old friend of mine, Mr Bruce Wayne." She smiled sweetly at him but raised an eyebrow suggestively – perhaps playing the old, playboy booking a hooker card would get her the number of the room…then again the kid might call the police on her but if that happened she could just zap him into forgetting she'd ever been in the lobby that night.
"I'll just call him to check m'am." The boy said reaching for the telephone but Zatanna grabbed his arm, only a gentle hold but still tight enough that he understood not to start dialling.
"I wanted it to be a surprise," she impressed upon the boy, "so if you could just give me a room number and a floor that would be…perfect." She said, choosing her words carefully – if that hadn't got the boy's heart racing then she was convinced he was gay.
The boy paused a moment, and then began typing something into the computer, clicked on his mouse a few times and then swung round on his chair to face her again.
"Mr Wayne is staying in the Victorian Suite on the fifth floor," he informed.
"Thank you," Zatanna said, pivoting on her heel and heading straight for the elevator, what had been meant to be a simple infiltration had been a painfully long process – hopefully her conversation with Bruce would be rather more swift and to the point. The lift arrived at the fifth floor quickly enough and she moved along the hallway and found the Victorian Suite, slotting the card-key into place and pushing down on the handle opening the door. It opened to the living room of the place, she threw her hands up in defence and managed to say quickly, "Pots," holding Bruce in place as he leapt at her. She murmured the counter-incantation and he moved toward her, at walking pace this time.
"How dare you break into my hotel room," he yelled at her, "I might have killed you."
"You'd have stopped," she disagreed walking past him and settling onto the sofa, crossing her left-leg over her right and resting on the sofa comfortably, "firstly you'd have recognized me the instant you were on top of me and secondly that's presuming I wouldn't have been able to throw up a spell in the time it took you to cross the room to attack me – I also know that you've always read before you go to sleep every night since you were small – it helps you clear your head."
"I stopped that a long time ago," he said, perhaps a touch of pain to that comment, "why are you here? I told you not to follow me."
"Because Bruce," she said, standing up to be on an even playing-field with him, "I know you better than they do, I know I haven't seen you since Gotham but I'd like to think I'm quite close to you – what happened with those assailants wasn't normal, in Gotham you were so controlled, so in command of the situation…you wouldn't normally have been taken down by those goons."
"I'm not used to working with a gang…" he muttered under his breath.
"It isn't that – it isn't that Diana was there last night, or Clark, or me is it? There's something else going on? Whatever it is Bruce just tell me…you don't want to work with Clark, fine, you don't want to work with Diana, fine, but at least play ball with me. Metropolis might seem more wholesome than Gotham but there's things going on here – people are going missing, people like me and like you – people that use their powers to fight crime…"
"I know," he said simply cutting her off, "it wasn't choice that I came to Metropolis Zatanna," he said, crossing the room to pour himself a Scotch, taking a small sip of it, "I've been looking into what the government's been doing for more than a year – looking into what happened to Checkmate."
"But how did you…?" she trailed off as realisation dawned on her.
He nodded, "There's very little that I'm not aware off," he said ethereally, "and you're right there is another reason I'm here, they took my son." He didn't cry - Zatanna knew that better than anyone but he seemed deeply moved, she almost thought she could see tears forming at the edge of his eyes but in the same instant they were extinguished and gone. In stead he was coughing, she felt the knot build in her throat and then covered her own mouth…there was a smell too, she could see it now – clouds of gas billowing into the room from underneath the door. She tried to form a cohesive word to cast a protective charm but it was too late, she collapsed to the floor and heard Bruce fall a few moments later. With each breath she felt herself drifting further and further from consciousness until all was dark around her, until the light faded at the end of the tunnel and the darkness absorbed her.
. . .
Tess strolled away from the rehabilitation area – it was a more polite term than detention centre, and the real aim of the place was to ensure that Chloe felt comfortable and the environment and prepared to help them rather than so uptight and opposed to all things Tess, Tess herself was probably one of the stumbling blocks but she wasn't going to remove herself from the project, if she hadn't have gone underground when she did she'd probably be dead now: not that anyone would know or would mourn her, but that didn't matter either, Tala following briskly at her heels. She might have been older than Tess and a great deal more powerful but Tala was on Tess's turf now and Tess was well aware of how to counteract magic, she had had the pendant specially shipped from Egypt solely for the purpose of guarding her against Tala – she never took it off. Any spell cast on her would bounce off her and attack Tala, the perfect defence.
The two women swept through the facility, passing men armed with sub-machine guns, dressed in combats and the various purple-suited support staff ensuring the facility was running perfectly as they navigated there way toward the main concourse, they entered through one of the many curved-entranceways, passing various jeeps and helicopters as they swept along the length of the gargantuan hangar towards the conference room. They allowed people to move past them before taking a lift down into the depths of the building – it was after all a completely underground facility, she had been preparing the base for some time with funds she'd siphoned away from a LutherCorp account, but the conference room was about as far down as you could go in the base. From above it resembled a disused industrial factory – a reminder of a long forgotten industrial past, but beneath there was a labyrinthine tunnel network, spreading out like a natural cave-system deep into the Earth containing a launch-pad for Tess's operations…whenever the Supervillains struck she would be prepared to rest control of Metropolis back from them – if she didn't stop them there then she would not be able to stop them taking over the country, perhaps – though she didn't wish to admit it – the world.
The lift finally reached the floor, opening and admitting them into the conference room, the far wall displayed a map of the world, while a vast hologram of Metropolis spread out across the centre of the conference table, her three associates stirred slightly in their chairs but she motioned them to stay calm as they took their seats – it was a round-table, the three remaining members were of very different dispositions, one seemed entirely bored with the situation, another mildly pensive, the third inquisitive – wondering what it was exactly that they were to do next.
"I trust we haven't kept you waiting," Tess said firmly, an acidic edge to her voice, aiming the comment firmly at Icicle, seated at the edge of the table radiating a slight chill into the room and making those either side of him look decidedly uncomfortable, "you can of course leave at any time Icicle – I just wouldn't expect to leave alive, but I'm sure I can have maintenance bring a body-bag down here if you'd prefer?"
He pouted sulkily and then focused upon the hologram in the centre of the table – it had focused in upon the nucleus of metropolis now, the Daily Planet and the surrounding skyscrapers – then a series of red-dots descended and positioned themselves across the streets of the city and the hologram expanded at the same time, shrinking in scale however to show a variety of red dots across the city and then interlink them all with lines creating the appearance of an enormous web stretched across the city.
"You're looking at all the Metahuman disappearances that we are aware off," Tess continued, the dots now flashed slightly as if anyone had missed them, "intelligence would suggest that whoever is operating is very mobile and operating from short-range bases, with a central containment facility located somewhere in the outskirts – the most likely place would be Suicide Slums but it could equally be one of the other suburbs, there's a lot of underused industrial ground that could be acting as a cover for them."
"So how do we find them?" enquired Roulette – the one who had been most interested when Tess had walked into the room, she seemed to be admiring the city.
"That is where you come in," she said looking Roulette squarely in the eye, swinging her chair a little so she had a direct line of sight with the woman, angling her entire body so that it was facing her, offensively, asserting her control of the situation, "with your contacts within the Metropolis underground you should be able to find out about recent acquisitions in the areas, comings and goings – things that don't add up."
"And what do you want me to do Tess?" asked the third member, the pensive one. "I'm a scientist; I can't help you do anything without any evidence."
"Why Emil I thought that'd be obvious," Tess grinned, "you have an invaluable knowledge of Metahuman genetics – I couldn't have you running around outside giving the government information on how to take down Clark could I? Besides you're the only person I know that I can trust to operate on any of the Metahumans if something goes wrong, you're the only one with the appropriate knowledge."
"Do we even know who it is we're fighting here Tess?" Icicle demanded, rejoining conversation after a slight lull in his concentration.
Tess frowned, "I know who is involved from the government, and it's rather ironic Icicle that I'm sending you into war with the woman who tried to ruin your life, who tried to ruin my life too – Amanda Waller is our enemy."
"But she was killed when Zod attacked the Castle – anyone who was in Checkmate knows that." Dismissed Icicle disbelievingly, he rose from the table and walked away determinedly toward the elevator; Tess produced a remote from the inside of her jacket pocket and thumbed a control on it. For a moment Icicle continued walking unmolested, then there was the smell of fire and smoke and a scream rang out in the room, Tess thumbed the control again and the screaming stopped but Icicle collapsed forward onto the floor. "What did you do to me?"
"It's a failsafe – when everyone joined this operation in your medical I had Emil install a fail-safe in your bodies, in Icicle's cause it's a biomechanical implant that rapidly raises in temperature burning him if he ever disobeyed me or went rogue," she grinned, "now sit down," Icicle obeyed grudgingly, taking his seat once more, "Waller is alive but she assumed a new identity. I visited a plastic surgeon in Las Vegas – a very private clinic that only caters for celebrities or millionaires who don't want to reveal what they've had done, Waller underwent surgery for her burns including an alteration in her skin pigmentation. She then assumed a new identity as a Miss Caroline Stewart."
"And you're sure she's leading the supervillains?" Tala quizzed – not that she doubted Tess but because she knew it entertained her mistress to have to have to clue-up her lieutenants as to her exploits and her plans.
"I'm positive she is," Tess said confidently, her mouth twitching into a broader smile, "she released a string of inmates from a maximum security compound on the outskirts of Gotham City, and a number of high-profile Metahumans have gone off-the-radar too, notably Carol Ferris – she's assembling a supervillain team, or rather whoever she's working for, or convinced herself she's working with has – Waller can't see it but she's being played and one of these days a trap is going to close. We're going to stop that trap closing, or at least hold it open long enough to free Clark and his friends."
. . .
She should have been focused upon the plight of Chloe and the others but it was the looks and charms of Diana Prince that had Lois's firm attention – those and the fact that she was also a super heroine in her spare-time, except unlike Lois's short-lived alter-ego Stiletto, Diana was a literal wonder-woman with super-strength like Clark, the ability of flight, also like Clark and a killer outfit that made the latex number Lois had tried to pull off look ridiculous. In short Lois paled in comparison to her and as alpha female she was losing ground fast, it wouldn't be long before the dark-haired harpy had her claws into Clark and she was tossed aside and left in the gutter like a bum to rot.
She smiled sweetly as Diana walked past and leered at her as soon as she was out of Diana's line of sight, the worse thing was that Diana was such a nice person Lois felt bad for hating her – it wasn't her fault she was incredibly pretty and vivacious, she just ticked all of Clark's boxes when Lois probably failed to tick one of them…she'd always known she and Clark were an odd pair. Before she might have looked past it and suggested that she could be the equal of Clark, that theirs was a relationship of equals where she was truly happy…but she wasn't. She was still insecure, still hung up on Smallville and still jealously guarding him in case one morning she awoke and discovered he wasn't lying there next to her in bed.
The phone on her desk rang a few times and she picked it up half-heartedly.
"Daily Planet." She snapped.
"Is that Diana Prince, the line's quite bad?" the voice asked, Lois almost – almost – made the automatic snap reply that she wasn't but she'd be back in a few minutes but a little voice in her head murmured the idea. Mess with her – just a little, the voice was clearly having trouble telling if Diana was on the end – Lois could interrupt whatever appointment she was going to and deflect the call – a perfect crowning glory to distract her from pursuing Clark.
"This is she," Lois replied in her best imitation of Diana's accent, "what can I do for you?"
The voice paused a moment, "I'm working in the US Government and I have a Story that might be…of interest to the press." It said. Lois immediately changed her plans – she would in stead steal this story from Diana's grasp, Lois Lane would be back on the front cover, she would be back in Clark's warm embrace and he wouldn't even be looking to Diana, he would be too enamoured with his journalist extraordinaire girlfriend.
"Why would it be interesting?" Lois pressed, she wanted an idea of what she was getting into – whether this was one of those prank calls she got or whether she had a full blown conspiracy theory on her hands with key players that she could expose.
"It concerns a senior figure in the Government siphoning of government funds into a project designed to hunt down…Metahumans, with the assistance of supervillains – are you interested?" the voice asked uncertainly.
"Name a place and I'll be there." Lois replied simply, she listened to the phone and scribbled down the address on a piece of paper and then just jumped up from her desk, putting down the phone and grabbing her coat as she swept out of the office. She paused as she met Diana at the doorway. "I'll be back in a couple of hours, there's a lead that I need to follow." Lois said simply, passing Diana by – she had her story, and there was no way she was letting Diana get her hands on it. Besides from the sound of the story it might have something to do with Chloe and Bart and AC…she'd be Clark's heroine – she'd find out where all his friends were being held and have landed the biggest story in the history of the Planet.
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Hope you enjoyed Chapter 5,
Chapter 6 should be up in a little while,
Reviews welcome, Acrobat x
