Justice League of Amazons: The Unplanned Variable
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Chapter 2
Going at a steady but brisk jog, Captain Adam made his way out of the alleyway and found himself standing out on a near empty street. His head swivelling around as his keen eyes took note of everything, the Captain tried to comprehend what he was seeing. He was in a city, that much was certainly clear given the height of the buildings themselves that seemed to loom over him, but the architecture and even the materials they were made of did not match anything in Halcyon's communities and settlements. Instead of the familiar sight of factory machined and riveted steel, most of the buildings were made of concrete and brick and mortar with glass paned windows. In the distance, a large building stood out to Adam what with the large metal sculpture of a planet with the words The Daily Planet embossed boldly along it.
Figuring that there might be someone who could explain to him what was going on and where he was, Adam set off for the building. As he jogged down the street, he passed the scant few citizens along the way. One thing, very much obvious now that he thought about it, was that there were very few men. Scratch that, there weren't any men at all, only women. Adam also got some very odd looks from the citizens as he jogged past them. Many of them were whispering to each other and looking in his direction.
Ignoring the stares and whispers from the people he passed by, Adam continued on to his destination and entered the lobby of the Daily Planet building. Once he was inside, the Captain looked over the vast foyer of the building. A cursory glance told the Captain that this building was clearly a newsprint outlet and it was hopefully nothing like what the Rockwell and Akande's newsprint outlets would put out, at least until he had taken them out of the equation.
Some people, all women he noted, stared at Adam surprised and confused. Taking the initiative, the Captain spoke in a loud, firm and clear voice, "I am Captain Adam of the Unreliable from the Halcyon Colony, is there anyone who can tell me where I am?" he asked.
Then stepping out was a rather attractive woman wearing a neat outfit which consisted of a lavender blazer, neat white skirt, high heeled shoes and a pristine baby blue shirt. She had long dark hair that was sleek, straight and shiny. Light and subtle makeup enhanced her already pretty features and her eyes were the same colour as her jacket.
"Lois Lane, the acting Editor in Chief of the Daily Planet," she introduced herself. "Forgive me for asking this, but, how are you alive?" she asked.
"Pardon me? What do you mean how am I alive?" Adam asked cautiously, his hands tensing their grip on his assault rifle.
"The virus," Lois Lane said slowly receiving no outward reaction from the Captain. "Created by the rogue Amazon Aresia. To kill all men with a Y chromosome," she then clarified.
"Amazon? Do you mean the Amazon rainforest?" Adam asked feeling very out of touch with what was being said.
Lois Lane pursed her lips before saying, "Remove your helmet. I wanna see if you're actually a man." Her words sounded more like an order than a request, but Adam decided to play nice.
Holstering his rifle over his back, Adam put his hands to his helmet and lifted it off with a soft hiss of compressed air revealing his features. Nearly everyone before the Captain stared at him dumbly and in near complete fascination, one young woman brought out a small palm sized device and pressed a button causing a bright flash of light which had Adam wincing temporarily before he pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the offending person.
"Whoa! Easy there! She was just taking your picture!" Lois Lane stood in front of Adam in his line of fire.
"Yeah? Well, next time ask permission," Adam said firmly. "I don't like people taking photos of me without my consent," he then added.
"Duly noted," Lois said as she put her hands on her hips and asked, "And you said your title was Captain, right? From this Halcyon Colony? Care to elaborate on that?"
"First, tell me where I am and I might have a better understanding of where I might be," Adam replied.
"You're in Metropolis City in the United States of America of planet Earth, or what's left of it since the virus struck," Lois told him.
"So, Phineas' device worked then, I am on Earth, but I've never heard of any city called Metropolis," Adam muttered to himself. "What year is it?" was his next question.
"It's the year 2013, why?"
Adam did his best to not look dumbfounded before saying, "Did I somehow travel back in time?"
"Back in time? Are you from the future?" Lois asked him.
"Maybe, it was 2355 when I was woken up from cryosleep," Adam replied. "But this doesn't make sense. I never heard of a virus that wiped out all men in the past before," he said as he frowned trying to think.
Lois then took Adam to the cafeteria where he was sat down and given a cup of coffee, something that surprised the Captain since there wasn't anything like it in Halcyon. Setting his helmet down on the table, Adam took a slow sip of the hot, bitter brew savouring its heat and flavour.
"This is good. Better than most things in Halcyon I've had before," he said to Lois.
"They don't have coffee in the future?" Lois asked raising an eyebrow at this, wondering just what kind of future wouldn't have the joy of drinking coffee.
"There's stimu-lotion which could be close to coffee, but nothing like actual coffee," Adam admitted as he took another sip of his drink.
"And where you come from, Halcyon, what's it like? What is it even?" Lois asked as she took out a notepad and pen.
"Halcyon was in truth a conglomerate of corporations that pooled their resources and bought a solar system that would be known as the Halcyon colony, all run by the Board of Halcyon," Adam said and he then told Lois the story of Halcyon and the troubles that plagued it. Lois listened intently, writing down notes and asking questions for clarification.
"So, you were originally a part of the Lost Hope colonists, frozen in cryosleep for decades as it failed to arrive on time, is that correct?" Lois asked as she glanced at her notes before looking at Adam.
"Yeah, that's what Dr Welles told me when he thawed me out before dropping me down onto Terra 2 to meet his contact, Alex Hawthorne, the original owner and Captain of the Unreliable," Adam confirmed.
"And the Unreliable is a ship?" Lois asked.
"She is and piloted by its AI, ADA," Adam said.
"So, there are things like autonomous artificial intelligences in the future," Lois remarked as she wrote that note down on her notepad. "So, for what reason did this Dr Welles wake you from deep sleep?" she enquired.
"From what Dr Welles told me and what I saw for myself, the Board was running Halcyon into the ground; near outright poverty, disease, food and supply shortages, badly terraformed worlds, hostile environments and flora and fauna that are more likely to eat you than you would them," Adam summed up. "Not to mention the interpersonal problems among the corporations and their business practices," he then said.
"Shady corporate dealings?" Lois asked sardonically, no stranger herself to such things in her years as the Daily Planet's premiere journalist.
"That's putting it lightly, Ms Lane," Adam said grimly. "The very first corporate township I saw had its workers working quadruple shifts with barely any time to rest, all the while people were getting sick because they weren't eating and many of them weren't being treated because they weren't seen as worth healing," he added.
Lois had a surprised look of concern but she schooled her features and asked, "So, was that the case across the Halcyon colony, then?"
"That, and much more," Adam said with a nod of his head. "All the while those pricks in Byzantium and on the Board hoarded all the things needed to make the colony a better place," he added with an angry look in his eyes.
"Weren't too fond of them, I see," Lois noted.
"Most of the people of Byzantium were self-entitled bastards who hadn't worked a day in their lives, and the people who ran the Board, Rockwell and Akande, knew things were going pear-shaped and were willing to let everyone else die while they sat high and dry," Adam replied. "So, you can guess why I was happy to remove them from the equation," he said.
"And by remove, you mean?" Lois said leadingly.
"If you're asking if I killed them in cold blood, just know that I gave them a chance to change their ways and do some good for once, but they were too stupid to take the chance offered to them," Adam stated. "Same went for those who got in my way and were too stupid to get out of the way," he said as an afterthought.
"Which brings up the question of your career choice, which is, if I were to guess, a mercenary?" Lois queried.
"Freelancer," Adam initially corrected. "But I suppose mercenary might be a more honest description of my work, but I also acted as a bounty hunter and on more than one occasion, a private detective," he said modestly.
"A private detective?" Lois repeated. "Would you care to describe some of your cases for me?" she requested.
"Well, two of the biggest cases I've solved come to mind and neither of them are pretty, no matter what detective serials would have you believe," Adam replied. He then told Lois of the Project Gorgon case from when he had received a parcel containing a severed arm and a phonograph recording from Lucky Montoya passing on the job to Alex Hawthorne, or rather Adam himself and the dark secrets of the Adrena-Time Project on the Gorgon Asteroid that was the source of the Marauder problem that plagued Halcyon.
Lois had listened with bated breath and a pit forming in her stomach as Adam gave brief but informative descriptions of the Adrena-Time Project and how it all went terribly wrong. "So, Spacer's Choice, a corporation on the Board, put out a faulty pharmaceutical despite knowing what it would do to those who took too much of it. Is that about correct?" she asked in a tense voice.
"Yeah. On the surface, the adrena-time project was a noble one, to uplift the working class of Halcyon, but for all the reasons I learnt, the drug was faulty and created monsters out of people and Spacer's Choice knew and tried to sweep it under the rug. Even when accused of what the drug did, they simply pointed to the warning label to excuse their crime," Adam replied.
"And Minnie Ambrose wanted to revive the project, while her mother tried to keep it buried out of guilt for what she had created, is that right?"
Adam nodded and said, "Yeah, it was a good thing that when everything was laid out for me to see, that I was able to convince both Minnie and her mother to work together to create a cure for the marauder plague instead of reviving or completely destroying the project."
"So, you seem to have a knack for getting people to work together when otherwise they wouldn't," Lois remarked.
"I can be pretty persuasive when I need to be," Adam said modestly. "Besides, enough people had died over the Gorgon Project, there didn't need to be more senseless and needless deaths," he added firmly.
"I suppose there wasn't any need for more of either," Lois observed. "So, before you were woken up from cryosleep, and even before you were ever in cryosleep, what was your life like?" she asked.
"My life? You mean, before I found myself in Halcyon?" Adam said and Lois nodded in confirmation.
Adam furrowed his brow at this before answering. "Truth be told, I don't remember too much of my previous life on Earth. I know that my previous life or profession was that of a sous chef and I was in the military, but apart from that, I can't say I remember a whole lot," he admitted.
"Really?" Lois looked surprised. "You don't remember much of anything about Earth? No parents, wife, children, family?" she asked.
"I believe I have a family, or did, but like I said I don't remember too much," Adam stated. "I don't know if it was all the years of cryo-sleep, or if it was the chemicals that Dr Welles injected me that altered my memory, but I guess I'll never know," he said softly.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Captain Adam," Lois said apologetically. Adam gave a sad smile to Lois who then reached out a hand and he took it, his gloved fingers intertwining with Lois's bare ones and they shared a moment of silence together.
"Okay, so I imagine you have questions rights. You've answered mine, only fair I answer yours," Lois said after the moment of silence. "What do you want to know?"
"Okay, so be your earlier comments earlier, and from what I've seen thus far, there was a virus that has wiped out all men on the planet, right?" Adam asked and Lois nodded in answer. "Who would be stupid enough to do that? And why would they?" he then asked.
"That boils down to the Amazons of Themyscira, or at least one of their number," Lois said. "Aresia, she was a war orphan adopted by the Amazon and took their teachings about men not being needed quite literally and created a virus to wipe out all men," she explained.
"Not being needed? Forgive me for saying and if it comes across as sexist, but men are needed in many ways," Adam said. "If only for the simple reason of procreation if anything," he added.
"You're not wrong there," Lois said dryly. "But try telling that to the Amazons," she added.
"And from what I guess deduce, the Amazons are a population of only women?" Adam asked. When he got a nod of confirmation, he then asked, "So, if they truly believe that men aren't needed, how is it they keep up their numbers? Do they find and seduce men to sleep with then kill once the deed is done afterwards?"
"Can't rightly say, but the Amazons are essentially immortal, blessed by the Greek Gods and live on an island paradise hidden from the rest of the world," Lois said.
"Immortality? Greek Gods?" Adam latched onto those titbits of information. "Are you trying to pull the wool over my eyes?" he asked sceptically.
"I kid you not, the Amazons are functionally immortal and the Greek Gods are supposedly real," Lois said to him. "I take it there aren't any in the future?" she asked.
"I don't know, not sure. I need more information before coming to any conclusions however," Adam said. "So, this Aresia, a war orphan who was adopted by a misandric race of all women thought it would be a good idea to wipe out all men on the planet," he reiterated. "Was there anyone that tried to stop her?" he asked plainly.
"Mhm. Wonder Woman, an Amazon herself, her mother and queen, Hippolyta, and Hawkgirl of the Justice League," Lois replied.
"Justice League? Who are they?"
"Earth's Greatest Heroes? Superman, Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl?" Lois said and she received a blank look from the Captain. "You don't know who any of them are?" she asked.
"No. And I don't recall anything regarding them," Adam answered. "I'm starting to think that the wormhole I was sucked into took me somewhere else entirely," he muttered more to himself than to Lois.
Lois jotted down another note in her notepad. "Okay, so it's possible you're from an alternate universe where there were no superheroes or even supervillains," she remarked.
"Yeah, I'm starting to think that too," Adam agreed. "Question is what I'm going to do now," he said to himself.
"Well, some part of me thinks that you've now realised you're in a world of only women and could very well live out some kind of power fantasy," Lois said sardonically.
Adam caught onto the tone in the reporter's voice before giving a thin smile and replied, "You'd think, wouldn't you? Fortunately I'm not like most guys."
Lois gave wry smirk and said, "Gay?"
"No. I have no interest in men in that fashion," Adam said in easy denial. "Sex is nice and all, but it's not everything. And part of being an adult is realising, understanding and accepting that not every woman is gonna think you're sex on legs. That's what separates the boys from the men," he stated.
"Huh, strangely mature. I would've thought you'd be ecstatic over being the only guy in the world," Lois joked lightly.
"Not every guy is a sex-crazed maniac, believe it or not," Adam said. "Besides I've never really had time for any sort of physical relationship," he added sheepishly.
"Huh, I never would've guessed it," Lois said feeling a smile grow on her lips. "So, given that it's highly likely you're only guy in the world that isn't dead from the virus, how do you feel about it?" she asked.
"Can't rightly say, but I sincerely hope I'm not the only guy left in the world. It'd be nice to have one or two male friends to hang around with and not just be stuck going on shopping trips all the time," Adam joked.
"Been on one too many, I take it?" Lois asked in amusement.
"Yep, mostly Parvati, Ellie and Nyoka dragging me along and me paying for everything aboard the promenade of the Groundbreaker," Adam said dryly. "Parvati wasn't too bad and Nyoka mostly wanted to hang out at the bar, it was Ellie who was the worst wanting to buy all the good clothes so that she could scuff up and sell the idea of being a space outlaw," he added sardonically.
Then the door to the cafeteria opened and entering the room was a short heavyset African-American woman wearing a pristine blue pant suit and flanked by two women wearing crisp black suits.
"What the hell? Who the hell are you?" Lois bit out.
Adam let his hand drift under the table to touch the grip of his pistol, ready to draw and fire the first shot.
"I am not here for you, Ms Lane, nor do you interest me at this time," the heavyset woman said with a disdainful look on her features as she looked directly at Adam. "My name is Amanda Waller, I represent Cadmus. Imagine my surprise when I heard that a single man still lived, seemingly unaffected by the virus created by the rogue Amazon Aresia," she stated.
Adam stared at Amanda Waller coolly. While he was certain that this woman wasn't a corporate type, she reminded him too much of Sophia Akande, the Adjutant of the Halcyon Holdings Corporation if the way the woman before him held herself in posture and words. She even looked similar to Akande, if Akande were two feet shorter, more rotund and had a buzzcut.
"A pleasure to meet, Ms Waller," Adam returned coolly, all the while his grip of his pistol began to tense up though he did not let that show in his arm. "I take it you're here to escort me to a more suitable, safer premise for my own safety?" he asked lightly.
Amanda gave a thin smile and said, "An observant one, I see." There was a hint of approval in her tone as she spoke. "And not an incorrect deduction, I am here to offer you sanctuary within a Cadmus facility. You understand that you are at risk and a potentially valuable asset, yes?" she asked him.
"Perhaps I am at risk," Adam said calmly. "But that would be assuming I am incapable of looking after myself, which I believe you aren't foolish to assume," he added.
"I would be foolish to believe that you are incapable, at least not without seeing your capabilities firsthand," Amanda confirmed. "But given a cursory glance, you're a fish out of water in this situation. There are elements in this world that would seek to use you or eliminate you, so why take the risk at all?" she said.
"There's an element of risk in everything, including taking up with you," Adam said coldly. "If you're anything like a certain acquaintance I had dealt with before, then I would be a fucking idiot to trust you," he added.
Amanda's bodyguards tensed up at the expletive from the Captain's mouth whereas Amanda raised an eyebrow at this before saying, "Rest assured, my actions are for the good of everyone on this planet."
"That was her excuse as well, that it was all the greater good, right before I diced her up," Adam replied plainly. "You say you have the best interests of everyone at heart, but you're really just serving the higher ups agenda without a care for those who get caught in your wake," he said. "I'll bet you don't even bat an eye when you run the numbers of the potential casualties of your actions. You simply justify it to yourself and move on," he added.
Amanda's bodyguards reached in their coats for presumably weapons which made the Captain say to them, "I wouldn't do that if I were, I can draw and drop you both before you can even draw your guns."
Amanda frowned at those words before saying, "Then it appears we are at an impasse, but why jump to violence when this can be concluded peacefully?"
"It can be," Adam said in apparent agreement. "This can go one of two ways. One: you go back to whoever pays you and tell them that I have no interest in working for those who serve only themselves. Or, two: I can kill you and your guards before you can even bark out an order," he stated. Narrowing his eyes at Amanda he asked, "So, what's gonna be?"
Amanda's face was expressionless, and her two guards looked tense as their hands rested on the guns in the coats, Lois was backing away little by little so as not to get caught in a firefight and Adam sat cool as a cucumber in his seat, his hand resting on his pistol under the tabletop.
After a long tense moment, Amanda smiled dangerously and said, "Had anyone else made that threat to my person, they would've lost that gamble. But you; I daresay you aren't bluffing at all and have made good on such a threat before in your past."
"The fact I'm sitting here at all is proof enough," Adam said coldly in response.
"Very well, I shall withdraw, for now," Amanda said. "Just know that I do have the best interests of the world at heart, and you may yet need someone like me on your side," she added as she turned on her heel and left the room with her guards.
"I sincerely I hope I won't need to," Adam muttered under his breath as Amanda Waller left the room.
After Amanda and her cronies left, Lois released the breath she had unconsciously been holding and in a breathless voice she asked, "Would you really have killed them?"
"What makes you think I wouldn't or couldn't?" Adam said plainly. "I'll say this though; she was smart to take the way out I offered to her, others I've dealt with weren't as smart," he added.
"I'm glad she did," Lois said as she sat back down in her seat, her heart hammering in her chest. "You really are a stone-cold killer, aren't you?" she asked Adam looking at him with fear and apprehension in her eyes.
"If I really were, I would've shot Amanda before she ever opened her mouth at all," Adam replied. "I try to give those who threaten me a way out, not my fault many don't do the smart thing and take that way out," he said darkly.
"I believe you," Lois said with a nervous and shaky smile. "But here's a question: what are you gonna do now? I mean, you made it clear you didn't want go with Waller, but where are you gonna go? You're on your own out here," she reminded Adam.
"I'll figure something out," Adam said as he put his helmet back on his head and let the seals activate and stood to his feet. "If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I'll meet them on my own terms and not before," he added before asking, "Is there a back way out?"
Lois then directed him to the back entrance and with a nod of thanks, Captain Adam left the Daily Planet.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! After a long wait, I've finally updated this and I do apologise for the time I took to update this, but I hope this chapter was satisfactory. Now granted I could do what I did with my other JLoA crossovers and have the Captain/Adam join the Justice League, but I might do something a little different and have Adam be on the run for a little bit and encounter some DC villains of the female variety and deal with them in his fashion before being found by the Justice League. We'll see how we go.
In other news, I've got the idea of an Elder Scrolls/Harry Potter crossover on my mind but I'm trying to decide what the setting should be and with that said, I've set up a poll on my profile of a list of worlds/settings for the idea, so feel free to cast your vote if you haven't already.
And that's about all I have right now, so I'll leave this here and see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.