Chapter Six: V.O.P.
Ryker's Island, the ultimate prison. A place for only the worst of criminals, Ryker's is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on an island that cannot be found on any map. No one escapes Ryker's, ever. But if everything went according to plan, that was about to change.
"This is ridiculous. Galatea died three years ago." Batman said.
"That's the official story, but not the true one." The Question argued.
"What makes you so sure?"
"The official story is that after Galatea was defeated, Cadmus retrieved her body. They then held a funeral for her, in which her body was cremated. Now, let me take the facts, and run through that story again. After Galatea was defeated, Cadmus retrieved her body; true. They held a military funeral for her in which her body was cremated; false." Question said.
"That isn't what I asked." Batman snapped.
"If you check the records, there were no official cremations for a Cadmus operative within that entire month. And then two days after she was supposedly cremated, Cadmus donated a large sum of money to Ryker's Island, which they used to buy a custom made, LexCorp designed cell that could hold even the most powerful of superhumans. Coincidence? No such thing. Galatea is still alive, she's just locked up in a specially designed jail cell on Ryker's island." Question explained.
Batman did not respond. Soon the boat arrived. They had been waiting at Metropolis Bay for about an hour, waiting for the boat from Ryker's Island to arrive, where it would pick up a group of new prisoners, and head back to the island. Only boats could travel to and from Ryker's, the airspace was completely closed off so no planes could even go near it. There had been six prisoners waiting to be picked up in the large, military grade vessel. They were guarded by twelve cops while they waited. The ship docked, and a door opened up allowing prisoner's to enter in a single file line, being put through a metal detector as they boarded.
"How are we going to get on?" Asked the Question.
In response, Batman held up a small bat tracer, loaded it into a launcher, and shot it at one of the boarding prisoner's. The device stuck easily onto his clothing, and as he went through the metal detector, the metal bat tracer set it off! Immediately a horde of cops were all over the prisoner, holding him to the floor and searching him thoroughly. In the midst of the distraction, Batman and The Question swiftly snuck around the other side of the boat, entered in through an escape hatch, and then locked themselves down in the engine room. They were aware that a maintenance officer would eventually come down to check everything, so they were sure to hide themselves deep within the shadows. Soon the ship took off back toward Ryker's. It would be at least a two hour ride.
"Don't suppose you've got a crossword puzzle in that utility belt?" Question asked, already bored. But when he turned to face Batman, he saw that the dark knight had vanished. "Not the best conversationalist" Question groaned, and then sat down to take a nap.
Almost three hours later, an announcement came on that said, "WE ARE NOW DOCKING AT RYKER'S ISLAND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY. PLEASE STAND AND BE READY TO EXIT THE VESSEL UPON REACHING LAND." And then the speaker was silent.
"So how are we going to get off this thing without being caught?" Question yawned, waking up from his nap.
"Like this." Batman said, pushing a button inside one of the compartments of his utility belt. There was suddenly a series of loud beeping noises throughout the room.
"What's that?" Question asked, now wide awake.
"That means we need to start moving, fast." Batman said, breaking into a sprint toward the stairway. Question followed. Suddenly there was a massive blast, and the entire engine burst into flames.
"C4?" Question asked.
"Something like that." Batman said vaguely.
"Nice." Question laughed.
The ship began to rock violently, and an alarm blared. The vessel began to sink. The two heroes made a break up the stairs and down the right hallway. The emergency exits were at the left hallway, so they knew that was where the guards would all be. They approached a window. As they got closer, Question removed his jacket, wound it around his hand for protection, and punch the window, shattering the glass. He and Batman then leapt out onto the island, with prisoner's and guards pouring out the other end of the ship. They were at a docking station inside the prison, where a loch of sorts took the ship inside the building. Two guards spotted Batman and Question, but Batman quickly took care of them with a pellet which burst into a cloud of gas which incapacitated them.
The two heroes burst through the door that the two had been guarding, and then sprinted down the hallway. Batman almost kept going, but Question stopped him, and pushed the buttons on an elevator.
"Seriously? We're taking an elevator?" Batman asked.
"Just trust me." Question insisted. Soon the detective duo was moving upward in the elevator.
As soon as the doors opened, Question punched two guards in the face, knocking them out, and the heroes took off again. Their next stop was at some sort of surveillance room, where Batman swiftly broke down the door. They quickly took down the two men monitoring the surveillance room.
"What are we doing in here? If they're keeping Galatea a secret, then they won't be monitoring her cell with these cameras!" Batman shouted.
"Think, Batman, I know you're smarter than this. If we're going to find Galatea, we can't just waltz around in here like morons. We need a distraction, and if there's one thing I know how to make, it's a distraction." Question began messing with the keyboard. "This is a control room for the entire prison. So…" He finished what he was doing, and suddenly an alarm began to sound. Looking on the screens in the room, they saw that suddenly, all of the cell's in the west wing of the building opened! Prisoner's began to pour out into the halls, into the courtyard, everywhere. Question had released over 700 prisoners!
"That should keep the guards busy for a while." Question said proudly. Sure enough, soon every guard in the building was down in the west wing, trying to calm the riots and lock everyone back up.
Batman and Question then proceeded to walk casually down the hall, now free to go about their business.
"Where do you suppose their keeping Galatea… assuming that they are keeping her anywhere but a cemetery." Batman said skeptically.
"Again, think Batman. I know you have a brain in there, why don't you use it? Ryker's Island is inspected by professionals every week to make sure that everything is up to code. If they want to keep Galatea a secret, then they wouldn't have her where she could be found." Question explained.
"What are you saying? She isn't even in the prison!"
"Why do you think I only released the prisoners on the west side of the prison?" Question asked.
"Stop leading me on and get to the point!" Batman demanded.
"I only let them out on the west side because we have to get to the east side. In the east wing of the building, there is a rather large section that isn't even used anymore. The entire section of the prison is blocked up, it hasn't been used in decades because of maintenance issues. I guarantee that's where they're keeping Galatea." Question explained.
"You put way too much thought into this conspiracy stuff." Batman grumbled.
In about twenty minutes, the two of them reached a blocked off part of the building on the east side. They easily broke in, and after repairing some fuses Batman managed to get the lights on.
"We should probably go down. They'll want to keep Galatea as far from the sun as possible." Question pointed out, and they began moving toward an elevator.
But out of nowhere, a bolt of black colored energy surged and blasted the floor between Batman and Question, blowing them apart and caving the section of the floor in.
"What the hell…!" Batman quickly recuperated and looked up to where the blast had come from, where he saw the figure of a familiar foe. Major Force.
"Batman, long time no see. And Question, when did you crawl out of the rat hole?" Major Force's booming voice called in a mocking tone. He was standing at the top of a walkway above them, looking down on them with absolute superiority.
"What are you doing here?" Batman demanded.
"Haven't you heard bats? I'm in the V.O.P. now!" He exclaimed.
"V.O.P.?" Batman asked.
"It stands for Villain Outreach Program." Question said. "It's a highly classified government operation put into motion by President Lex Luthor, big surprise. The program takes superhuman villains and offers them a complete pardon from all their crimes, in exchange for super secretive government service. Basically, they do the President's dirty work, and they get diplomatic immunity for it." Question explained.
"Bingo. The faceless wonder over there nailed it. It's like a permanent get out of jail free card, and obviously I've never had a problem doing the government's dirty work… I was a government agent for years! The V.O.P. is perfect for me… I get to kill indiscriminately, and it's not even illegal!" Major Force laughed.
Then Major Force leapt down toward Batman, knowing he was the bigger threat. Batman threw out a set of three explosive baterangs that hit Major Force's chest, exploding loudly. But when the smoke cleared, Major Force was completely unharmed, and he struck Batman hard, sending him flying through an already deteriorating wall. Then he sent a blast of radioactive energy that blew Batman even further into the floor. He then turned on The Question, and attacked. Question just barely avoided the attacker's punch, and then struck him in the head with a piece of pipe. The pipe dented, and Major Force was unharmed.
Batman pulled out another explosive baterang, but this time he prepared to throw it at the walkway above, causing the heavy steel to come falling down on top of Major Force. But as he was preparing to the throw the baterang, an arrow sliced through the air and slashed the device out of the dark knight's hand! Batman quickly turned around and saw the last person he had expected to see. The Green Arrow! Green Arrow had his bow at the ready, aimed toward Batman.
"Stand down, I don't want this to get ugly." Green Arrow threatened.
"What? What are you doing here!" Batman demanded.
"LexCorp bought Ryker's, and they figured they needed some better guards if they were going to be holding Galatea. So they got Major Force from the V.O.P., and then they offered me the job. And I accepted it." Green Arrow explained.
"Why? It's not like you need the money!"
"Not everything is so black and white, bats. This isn't about money, I'm in it for the immunity." Green Arrow said.
"What the hell does that mean!" Batman barked.
"We're vigilante's, Batman. You're smart enough to know that the public doesn't exactly love us. And now Lex Luthor is in office, and he's forming all these organizations like the V.O.P., and he's funding Cadmus, and who knows what else. He's even equipping the regular police force to fight us, Batman. With Luthor as President, none of us vigilante's will be around much longer. They're hunting us more than ever. I'm just ahead of the game, you see, if I take this government job, then I'm not officially doing anything illegal, so I can't get in trouble. And I'm part of a program that hunts down criminals, I'm only a prison guard part time… so if you think about it, I'm still a hero, and I'm one who the world doesn't hate. I did the right thing." Green Arrow said, his voice cold and level.
"This is insane. Selling yourself out to Luthor… pathetic. You were never one stray away from your beliefs, Arrow. Never." Batman said in a highly disappointed tone.
"Well what would you expect me to do, Batman? Stand around and wait to be slaughtered! No, you might be too stubborn to see that this is a good thing, but I don't have that problem." Green Arrow argued. "Now I'll tell you one last time, Batman… stand down. Or I swear, I will shoot you down on the spot."
Batman held up his arms, but then quickly shot a wrist grapple into the rafters to escape. "Do you have the slightest idea what's going on, Arrow! Superman is killing people left and right! We have to stop him!" Batman shouted.
"Luthor will stop him! All he wants is power, you know that, and now he'll do whatever it takes to keep it! Lex Luthor really is a good president, because he wants to keep the power! If Superman is a problem, then you're just being an idiot and making a bigger problem!" Green Arrow shouted back, firing an explosive arrow into the rafters, trying to detect Batman based on his voice. He missed, and sent huge chunks of metal falling down, separating him and Batman from Question and Major Force.
Question was taking some abuse, Major Force had landed a near fatal punch on him. Now the Question could hardly stand.
"So before I kill you, tell me… is it true what Batman says? Is the big blue boy scout really killing people?" Major Force asked.
"Looks that way…" Question grumbled through the pain.
"Good, maybe now he'll actually cut loose and fight with all he's got. I'll have to go up against him sometime… but first, I'll finish you off!" Major Force shouted, sending another punch down. Question barely managed to roll out of the way.
Batman shot a net down toward Green Arrow, but Green Arrow sent a cluster arrow that shredded the net. "Got you now!" Green Arrow shouted, sending up an arrow that shot Batman in the leg! The dark knight fell from the rafters, but landed on his hands and sprung into a cartwheel, throwing down a series of gas pellets that blinded his opponent.
"Question!" Batman shouted, tossing two pairs of specialized knuckle dusters over to The Question. Question swiftly put the knuckle dusters on, and then delivered a punch to Major Force that actually did some damage! Enjoying that, Question began pounding the villain with a series of crushing blows.
Meanwhile, Green Arrow emerged from the smoke and struck Batman across the face with his steel-reinforced bow. This put Batman on the ground, but before he could shoot, Batman kicked as hard as he could and struck Green Arrow in the knee, causing him to fall as well. Batman then tackled him and rammed him face first into the floor.
"I don't want to hurt you!" Batman insisted.
"Funny, I don't want you to hurt me either." Green Arrow quipped before pulling an electric arrowhead out from underneath his glove and jamming it into Batman's shoulder, electrocuting the dark knight. He then prepared to finish the job with a powerful concussion arrow.
Major Force got in a good hit and slammed Question into a wall, before firing a powerful energy blast toward him. Question ducked, and the blast struck the concussion arrow, causing a massive blast that completely demolished the floor. All four of the fighters crashed hard down into the basement! Major Force immediately stood and fired blindly, blasting a hole in the ceiling high above them.
"I'm gonna kill you all!" He screamed, rushing toward Batman. Green Arrow shot Question with a boxing glove arrow, which caused Question to stumble painfully back into the wall behind him, but his hand touched cold steel. This would not have been odd, except that the room they were in was made of cement…
"No way!" Question shouted, feeling the steel behind him. Then he quickly charged at Green Arrow, which surprised the archer. Green Arrow prepared to shoot, but Question threw a knuckle duster into his face, ruining his aim. Question then tackled him, pulled an explosive arrow from his quiver, and jammed the arrow into the steel wall. A beeping began, and Question and Green Arrow both ran for cover, jumping and hitting the floor when the arrow exploded…
Batman was just standing when he was hit by a powerful fist from Major Force, completely disorienting him. Major Force lifted the hero by the throat, and prepared to fry him with an energy blast.
"Lets how long it takes to roast a bat with radiation!" Major Force shouted through an insane laugh, choking Batman all the while. But then there was a thundering explosion behind them, and Major Force turned his head to see that Question had used one of Green Arrow's weapons to destroy the wall behind him. But why?
The smoke began to clear, and Green Arrow, suddenly interested, shined a flashlight arrow inside. Inside the wall was a woman with short blonde hair, wearing a prison jumpsuit. She had sparkling blue eyes, shiny smooth skin, attractive red lips… she was beautiful.
"No way…" Green Arrow muttered.
"Her cell was disguised as a basement wall… very creative." Question sighed.
Galatea stood slowly in her cell, her hands encased in shackles. She slowly stepped out into the basement, a smile on her face. She looked up toward the hole Major Force had made in the ceiling. The sun was just rising, and some light was beginning to shine through onto her. She was even more breathtaking then. Her body seemed to harness the light, radiate in it.
"Oh yeah…" She moaned, pulling her arms apart and easily destroying her shackles. "That feels good!" She exclaimed, spreading her arms in the light. The yawned as if she were just waking up from a long sleep, and then she rested on hand on her hip, and scanned the room. "Interesting little shindig going on here. What did you boys have in mind for me?" She smiled.
Major Force, who had stopped choking Batman but hadn't put him down, smiled dumbly. "Who is that sexy little-" He began to speak, but before he finished his sentence she fired a blast of heat vision that struck him in the face, blasting him deep into the wall.
"Watch your mouth big guy. Or else I'll have to weld it shut!" She threatened, heat vision still glowing in her gaze.
"So you release one killer to fight another? Great strategy Batman!" Green Arrow shouted.
"Batman? So you let me out?" She asked, looking to the dark knight.
"Actually, I did it. Batman is just an accomplice." Question said.
"Well then, I guess I owe you one." She sighed.
Suddenly she vanished in a blur of super speed, and then Green Arrow was struck by a thundering punch. She came in to focus right in front of him, which her fist driven deep into the archer's abdomen. Then she swung her other fist into his face, sending him spiraling across the ground hard. She went into another burst of super speed and stepped on him, stopping his roll and breaking more ribs.
"Boor-iii-ng." She sighed, kicking the hero extremely high, sending him sailing out of the basement. There was a loud crash from far off, but they could not even see where he had landed. Major Force began to crawl from the rubble behind him, grunting with rage. "Maybe this one will be a bit more fun." She smiled, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. Major Force released a powerful blast of black energy, and in response Galatea held her hands out in front of her. Her hands easily stopped the blast like it was nothing!
"My turn!" She exclaimed, flying toward him and smashing him with a series of devastating punches, literally putting visible dents in his body! Her strength was at the very least equal to Major Force's, possibly greater, and she was taking advantage of it. She pummeled Major Force a little more before grabbing him by the throat and hovering up out through the hole in the ceiling, flying up into the stratosphere. Then she kissed Major Force on the cheek before saying, "Goodbye, big guy." Then she threw him down back toward the Earth!
Major Force sailed down like a meteor, becoming a ball of flame. He crashed hard into the prison, demolishing most of the building! A huge crater was left in the area. Galatea flew easily back down toward Batman and Question, who had now climbed out into the open. "And all the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put the big jackass together again." She said, looking toward the crater Major Force had made when he landed.
Then she turned and faced the awestruck Batman and Question, both in stunned silence. "Um, you're welcome." She said sarcastically.
"Thanks." Question shrugged. "Now, we have a proposal to make." He started.
"Whoa, no!" She said abruptly. "I already repaid you two. Now I'm off." She turned to fly away, but suddenly felt extremely sick, and fell the ground shaking.
Batman had drawn a shard of kryptonite from his utility belt, he always carried it just in case. "I suggest you listen to us, or I'll jam this down your throat!" He threatened.
"You drive a hard bargen." She said through a pained grin. "What do you want from me?"
"Superman is out on a sudden killing spree. We're trying to stop him, and we want you to back us up in case things get ugly." Question said, telling the short version.
"Superman… why didn't you just say that in the first place? I'll kill him anytime, just to piss of his annoying little cousin." Galatea said. Batman nodded and put the shard away, but his glare made it clear that he would take it out again if she got out of line.
A group of guards arrived and immediately opened fire. The bullets bounced harmlessly off of Galatea's body, and she released a wave of super breath that knocked them all off their feet. She then grabbed Batman and Question and flew off. By the time the soldiers got to their feet, their targets were gone.
The group landed on top of a building in Metropolis, and she sat on the ledge casually. Question and Batman watched her from the other side of the rooftop.
"You really think we can trust her?" Batman asked.
"For now, we have to." Question said with uncertainty. "She's eager to go against Supergirl, and so she's happy to go against Superman, so at least she has motivation to help us. Plus, to be honest, I've never really thought Galatea was all bad. She's really a good person, she was just utterly brainwashed by Cadmus." Question said.
"A good person wouldn't slaughter civilians." Batman snapped.
"Like I said, Cadmus brainwashing." Question shrugged.
"Whatever. It isn't important right now, what's important is that we need to take shelter. We can't just stand around in the open like this." Batman said, preparing to walk off. "Come on, we'll go to the batcave." He said.
"Batman… just one quick question… you wouldn't really have shoved that kryptonite down her throat, would you?" Question asked expectantly.
"Why do you care?" Batman asked.
"Because we're trying to catch a killer, Batman. That doesn't mean we have to become killers." Question said very seriously.
"No, I wouldn't have. Now lets move." Batman insisted, continuing forward.
"Hey guys!" Galatea called from the other side of the building. Batman remembered for the first time that Galatea possessed super hearing, she had probably heard the entire conversation anyway. He would have to be more careful of that in the future.
"What is it?" Question asked calmly.
"If I'm going to be your bodyguard, I'm gonna need more information. On this whole situation, I mean. I want all the details." Galatea said sternly.
"Come on, I'll explain on the way." Question promised, and the three of them took off.
Meanwhile, at a LexCorp boardroom…
Superman hovered above the building listening intently with his super hearing.
"There is a large meteor headed toward Pluto. This meteor contains large quantities of kryptonite." One voice said.
"We are well aware of that." Another voice said.
"Good. I trust you are also aware of project CORRUPTION?" The first voice asked.
"Yes." The second voice responded.
"Well some of us in the board are worried about the subject getting out of hand, and if we lose control of the situation… it would be catastrophic. So, tomorrow we will send a one man space shuttle up into space. The shuttle will intercept the meteor, extract the kryptonite, and bring it back to Earth. Then we can use it as a weapon, in case the project gets out of hand. The one manning the space shuttle will be one of our finest astronaughts, a man by the name of Hank Henshaw. But this entire mission is to be kept under wraps, is that understood?"
"Yes." The second voice replied.
"Good then. We'll need the V.O.P. to ship over Major Force to aid Captain Atom in making sure the launch goes smoothly. Major Force had some… issues at Ryker's Island, this will be his chance to redeem himself." The first voice finished.
"Done. Major Force will be at the shuttle to protect the launch." The second voice replied.
"Good." Then the two men formally said goodbye, and the first voice exited the building. Immediately, Superman snatched him up and flew into the air.
"What the uh.. no! Not you!" The man screamed.
"What is project CORRUPTION!" Superman demanded.
"I- I can't tell, I really can't! If I try then this heart monitor hear will kill me!" He said, showing Superman a LexCorp issue heart monitor.
"Fine then. Where's the launch!" Superman roared.
"The NASA station in Metropolis! Tomorrow afternoon!"
"Thanks." Superman said. He then dropped the man, who went falling and smashed into the hood of a moving car. Blood immediately began to seep all over the road. Just another victim.
Sounds like I'll be visiting NASA tomorrow…" Superman smiled. "But for tonight, there are more criminals to kill… and then there's J'onn, I'll need to finish him soon..." Superman mumbled to himself. Then he heard sirens off in the distance. With his super hearing, he listened on the police radio, and heard that the villain known as Fastball was causing trouble.
"Hmm… I wonder how I'll kill this one… maybe a nice spine rip." Superman said with a laugh as he flew off into the night, headed toward another kill.