Just to say, I did some research and I guessed that as Vlatavastok is said to neighbor Hungary then I could use the time difference between New York and Hungary to mark the time difference between Gotham and Vlatavastok so the events below are occurring simultaneously with the events at Gotham. I got confused a little sometimes while I was writing so I thought I should clarify just in case. We'll be back to the original story in the next chapter.
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Chapter 3: Pride
BIALYA
JULY 28, 10:00 AST
Queen Bee looked on her work with joy. She was happy- or at least content- with the way things were going and finally events were moving in a direction that pleased her. No more of that Reach nonsense, that plan had been doomed to fail from the start in her opinion. Their first partner had been far too theatrical, too keen, too fast! No wonder it all crashed down around them.
Devastation continued to carry the podded children to the loading bay. Well, to call them children would be too much; they were more like young adults, adolescents on the brink of adulthood. It paid to distance oneself, to make a distinction, from the thought that one was kidnapping children, the idea of it never did sit well with her but one must do what needs to be done, and she was known to be a woman who always put her work first.
"Devastation, dear, that is enough. You may leave me now." She dismissed the hired muscle, who left without a word. It made her smile, the way people deferred to her without question. Once she was gone Queen Bee picked up her very own Father Box from the bench she leaned on and called forth a boom tube. The ensuing booming sound to which the box was aptly named after heralded the opening of a portal, a direct link from Apocalypse to her beloved Bialya. She subconsciously found herself crossing her arms defensively in front of her; the only sign of weakness evident in her otherwise cool façade. Unfortunately, as useful as these beings from Apocalypse were, they did tend to scare her a little.
Two beings stepped forward from the boom tube. One she knew, Dassad, a key advisor and inventor of Darkseid's, a grotesque, greyish looking man with an impressive skin deformation on the right side of his face. He walked with a limp and seemed to have an ever-present leery smile in place which served to unnerve whoever was watching. The second she did not. It was an impish man-thing of sorts, with a flat wide face harboring planar features. His eyes glowed a sinister red and his mouth, set in a permanent grimace, showed sharp pointed teeth. He was muscular yet squat, and seemed to possess just two toes on each foot. A shaggy shock of black hair covered his head and chin effectively completing his cavemen ensemble.
"Queen Bee, a pleasure I'm sure," Dassad rasped. "Excuse my companion. This is Kalibak, my Master's second-in-command, and he is not used to human presence. Well, not those that he could not play with at length."
He started laughing, short burst of a crackling sound that grated on the eardrums. How crass. The Kalibak, at least, did not bother speaking with her and started carting the pods through the boom tube using a trolley, taking six at a time. Queen Bee sighed. She so despised small talk when it wasn't needed. She hoped he would leave quickly but knowing Dassad he would continue torturing her with his endless chatter.
"Dassad please, it is irrelevant," She gestured toward the pods, "These are the last few captives from the Reach ship, the ones with confirmed absences of the meta-gene." She informed him, Deasad nodded, watching with a pleased expression as Kalibak returned to cart off another six pods.
"And our second arrangement?"
"You must understand that the previous meta-humans in our possession were liberated by the Justice League's team of child-heroes. We are now in the process of harvesting a new crop for your master."
"That is fine, excellent even. I impatiently await your results Queen Bee."
She smiled. Yes, this arrangement worked both ways. They were using them just as much as they were. The price one pays for power supposedly. As the last of the pods were transferred Desaad said his goodbyes and promptly left for the boom tube, closing it behind him as he did so. An oppressing quite descended over the cave which she was quite eager to dispel. Turning on her 3-inch teal blue heels she swept out of the room to return to the surface, to continue fanning the Quraci-Biyalian antagonism, to continue one of the many plans they were using to divert the Justice League's attention from their main goal.
And ultimately, to serve the Light.
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VLATAVASTOK
SEPTEMBER 3RD, 01:03 EET
Wondergirl was definitely glad for the chance to prove herself to this team.
She sat in the Martian, sorry, Ms. Martian's bioship, wearing full stealth tech and equipment. She knew, she checked. Twice. She was leading alpha team, obviously for the first time and everything, and she needed it to all go absolutely perfect.
She readjusted her seatbelt for what was probably the 10th time and looked towards Barbara, no wrong, Batgirl. Geez, she really needed to get into the habit of using their codenames. Batgirl, Ms. Martian and Blue Beetle made up her alpha team. Not a bad pick but then again she didn't pick them, Batman had personally assigned them this mission, so it must be, like, really important as usually he left it to Nightwing or Aqualad to assign sub-teams, or would just let them get on with it on their own. He seemed a little impatient had taken Nightwing with him when he left leaving Aqualad in charge.
"ETA -20mins Wondergirl," Ms. Martian informed her. "We should go over the mission objective once more before we make the drop."
"I know that! I was getting to it," Wondergirl snapped. Ms. Martian looked startled by her tone, making Cassie feel guilty almost immediately after her retort. Cringing, she decided to apologize right away. "I'm sorry Ms. Martian, first day on the job and all, you know? I mean, not the first job, I've been on the team for a while now but I'm leader? First time. So I'm a little jumpy... sorry." She felt her face warm up. Geez, could she be a bigger dork? Batgirl chuckled, hiding it with a cough when Wondergirl shot a glare her way. Blue Beetle just looked very uncomfortable, deciding to stay out of it. Good for him.
"Let's start the briefing Cassie," Batgirl told her swiveling her chair around, "Running a little out of time here."
Wondergirl frowned. She always did this in the training scenarios. Undermining her authority and treating her like she didn't know what she was doing. "Right, Batman said that there is some suspicious technology being used in this city, which kind of look like this alien technology called a mother box, or derivatives thereof, as well a crazy increase in kidnapped people, and after the Reach invasion, we are obligated to investigate when the number of missing people increases above a certain percentage. He thinks there's been 'deliveries' being sent to Earth and vice versa and we are to locate, infiltrate and observe the locations marked on the map. A recon mission more or less so no contact with any unfriendlies." She finished. Totally nailed it.
"We also need to split into pairs so as to better cover a wider range. We should check all abandoned or condemned buildings, underground bunkers, and even Count's Vertigo residency for signs of alien tech. He may just be our primary target on this one. If there is even the slightest chance that that the Light is still working with the Reach we need to know, sooner rather than later" Batgirl said as she typed in a few commands into her in-built wrist computer, causing a holographic map of Vlatavastok to appear in front of the three of them with 2 bright red spots, one over the forest bordering the city, and another over the warehouse district
God damn it she was totally going to say that! WonderGirl huffed and undid her seatbelt, pouting, and stood up. She moved to the center of the room and avoided Ms. Martian's concerned gaze. Fine, if Batgirl wanted to be team leader so bad that she was okay with making her look totally incompetent, then she can have it! She'll just do her work and get back to WonderWoman. At least she respected her as an equal.
"Ms. Martian get ready to drop, I'm going in first," Wondergirl said as she fidgeted with her bracelets. She heard Blue Beetle sigh and stand up, moving towards her until he stood right behind her.
"Calm down a little Wondergirl, Barbara is just trying to help, not make you look stupid, you know that? Like you said, it's your first time being leader and it's a big responsibility. Please don't take it to heart, we all need to be on top of our game, it's our first mission since Wa- since the Reach clean up and we all want to make this go smoothly, right?"
"….."
"Um, Wondergirl, right?"
"Right okay, right," she knew that geez. It was this whole leader thing, it made her irrational and paranoid. She shifted slightly so that she was a few centimeters further away from him. Blue Beetle made her uncomfortable sometimes, what with his preachy do-gooder attitude.
Ms. Martian signaled her. "Wondergirl, we've reached. Dropping in 3,2,1..."
The hangar dropped open, sending Wondergirl and Blue Beetle plummeting 20feet before they used their power of flight to stop. She surveyed her surroundings. They were over the forest bordering the city of Vlatavastok, their first stop on this alien hunt. Above them the bioship closed the hangar door and, still camouflaged, sped off north to the second drop-zone. Good, at least Batgirl couldn't tell her what to do from all the way over there!
"Wondergirl. Blue Beetle, remember to keep radio contact to a minimum, the intelligence agencies of Vlatava are known to tap into private frequencies and we have confirmation that Psymon was seen in Vlatavastok just this morning so generating a mind link is a no-go." Ms. Martian informed them.
"Alright, roger that Ms. Martian, see ya." Wondergirl replied.
"We'll rendezvous back at this location once we finish scouting the second site. Be careful Blue, Wondergirl." And with that she was gone, even as Wondergirl turned off her own com-link and turned towards Blue.
"Wondergirl, this way. The scarab is picking up a weird signal it doesn't like from this direction," Blue Beetle pointed towards the eastern side of the forest. Wondergirl stood hovering in place. From what Blue had told them before, the scarab didn't like a type of technology from the place who were... the enemy of... what was it, the enemy of those New Genesis people that Superboy was buddies with? Then this could be an Intergang thing! Smiling savagely she took off in the direction Blue was pointing at. This was awesome, first day and she'd take down Intergang! Batman would probably give her a medal or something seeing as how important this mission looked to be to him. She weaved through a copse of trees, blocking out Blue as she closed the distance to... where? Realizing that she had no idea where she was going, and blushing slightly, she stopped, with Blue Beetle almost crashing into her.
"What the hell Wondergirl?! Do you even know where you're going?" He whispered harshly.
Putting on her most innocent face, Wondergirl replied, "No, not really? Argh, I'm sorry Blue I got… excited. Wanna take the lead now?" She mocked bowed and gestured with a flourish to the general direction they had been going in.
Blue Beetle, ignoring her completely, landed then looked up waiting for her to follow suit. Groaning, Wondergirl grudgingly dropped to the ground. She wanted to fly, everything happened faster and more exciting when she flew.
"We need to be quite, that's kind of what stealth means, so stop 'swooshing' through the trees and snapping off branches, cuz it's not helping any! We go by foot and scan and survey the area before barging in and letting everyone and their grandma's know that we're here." Great now Blue Beetle was telling her off too. But, maybe she did deserve this one a little. She was guilty of sometimes letting a little too much bloodlust take control of her actions and that wouldn't do for her very first time as team leader. Perfect, remember? So she nodded and followed Blue Beetle who continued to move east, changing his course slightly when his scarabs alerted him to.
Soon the dense trees gave way to a very large artificial clearing, signaling that they'd reached the base. She knew it was a base because of the crazy tripped out alarm systems that Blue's scarab picked up, useful this one. He signaled her to stop, pointing out where the motion detectors, laser grid generators and good old fashioned mines were. Beyond that was nothing but an expanse of grass, but Wondergirl picked up a light shimmering that betrayed their camouflage. Long hours of training with Ms. Martian had finally paid off then! She smirked; it felt good to be able to use her training in a real mission scenario, and not be the last one to know anything like she sometimes felt she was
Wondergirl turned her com-link on, a static buzzing filling her ears indicating that neither Ms. Martian nor Batgirl were available. Great, so no reporting in what they found to the rest of the team. She called the Watch Tower instead, instantly connecting to Aqualad who was on monitor duty for the team today. Great, again, Aqualad! She seriously didn't know how to feel about the guy.
"Aqualad, we've reached the first site and have come across a camouflaged compound of sorts. Shall we proceed in?" She whispered. There was a short pause while he deliberated then his cool voice finally resounded through the com-link.
"Proceed, but be cautious. There are too many unknown variables. Pull out at the very first hint of trouble and check in once you get out."
"Alright, roger that."
She turned it off and leaned close to Blue's ear and whispered, failing to notice as he flinched away. "We need to find the entrance Blue, without alerting them. Any ideas?"
"I could create a distraction? Use a sonic blast on the building which should take out their camo too. That would let you get inside. I'll draw their fire and lead them away, lose them in the forest hopefully and circle back to give you back-up if you need it."
"Okay, good plan. Let's do that."
"Ready when you are."
Blue Beetle started to circle the compound, but just as he was a couple of trees away from her, the harsh hissing sound of pneumatic doors sliding open filled their ears, followed by flashing red lights from beacons hidden in the trees canopy signaling the deactivation of the alarm system. Blue Beetle grabbed her arm, pulling her behind a tree just as the compound's doors fully opened letting a large 4X4 green camo colored jeep out. Seeing their chance the two dove into the compound's perimeter. There were no guards stationed outside, and good for them, because the two young heroes were able to enter the main building uncontested. Mission, part 1, total success.
Wondergirl scanned the room as the doors hissed shut behind them. The inside of the building was large, larger than it had seemed on the outside. They had ducked behind a bunch of large steel grey crates and adding to the bad lighting in this place, they were basically all but hidden from view. But, it wasn't like there was anyone there for them to hide from. The place was completely empty, with only a crazy load of crates, strange looking machinery, a large table and a couple of chairs occupying the space. She was so disappointed. She needed something, anything, to bring back to the Tower to commemorate her first mission as leader…
There! Movement!
"Wondergirl, what are- wait up!" Blue beetle scrambled to catch up to her as she quickly (but stealthily) made her way to it. Yes, maybe it was a little risky to just up and go but she couldn't just let it get away. Ducking behind crates and slowly making her way to where she had seen the movement she arrived. She muffled a shriek behind her hand. Blue Beetle, also reaching her side, cursed like a sailor in Spanish at the sight in front of him, backing away rapidly.
The creature was in a man sized cage partially covered by a large tarp, which was why she hadn't spotted it the first time. It was a tall creature, with green skin covered in what looked like gold plated armor. There was a reptilian nature to it and the place where his mouth should have been was sealed by a large metal gag. His hands and feet were also bound. Wondergirl grimaced, the things eyes were following her around, beady red points tracking her every move.
"Wondergirl we need to move, now! That thing is Apocalypton and it's bad. We have to report this to the Watch Tower." Blue Beetles voice had taken a panicked edge, and he was tugging on her arm, but she couldn't tear her eyes from it. What was Apocalypton anyway? Didn't sound like anything that they had dealt with before… Just as she started to concede and leave with him she noticed the thing was glowing and vibrating. Weird, so weird and why was Blue freaking out so much? This time Blue Beetle didn't even bother trying talking to her, he pulled hard on her arm and forced her to leave with him, jerking her to a rapid pace. Even as they started running a harsh light penetrated the semi-darkness around them growing with each step they took. The creature was shrieking, loud and high pitched, and Wondergirl wondered how it had managed to remove that steel gag from its mouth? Suddenly Blue pushed her in front of him, telling her to fly, and she tried but couldn't? Even as she wondered how that was even possible the creature let out a single piercing battle cry, and in English no less.
"For Darkseid!" It shrieked and then blew up.
The ensuing explosion took her by surprise, but not Blue. Even as she felt the heat from the blast on her back she felt his arms encircle her saving her from the worst of the flames. The concussion from the blast drove them both through the compound's walls knocking the breath out of her as she felt multiple ribs break. By the time they landed they had crashed into several trees and lay in a heap on the forest floor. Broken bones, everywhere. She couldn't feel anything, which terrified her. No pain, just a numbness that had spread all over her body, until she could barely feel the rise and fall of her chest. She tried lifting her head to find Blue, but found that she couldn't even do that. Great, just great and now she felt like crying. She shouldn't be so badly injured, her durability usually covered concussive force from an explosion, but… she was bleeding, badly, and at this rate she might actually die. She was dizzy, the blood loss and the smoke from the destroyed compound making her light headed, but she tried to force herself through sheer will to get up and find Blue. If she was that bad off, she was scared to even think of how badly injured he would be.
Get up, get up, GET UP! Yes, finally. She felt her head rise, slowly and shaking. Damn it, her vision was tunneling, she could barely make out anything there was so much fire and smoke everywhere. No, there he was, lying underneath one of the pines with his suit turned off and, oh god, his body. It was covered in burns and lacerations oozing blood. She chocked. She had to get to him, she didn't know how fast the scarab thing would heal him, or even why it had deactivated, and he needed help now. She cried out as her sudden movement jarred her broken collarbone causing her to drop her head down to the forest floor. Hopeless, it was all hopeless. She could only watch helplessly as her vision continued to black out and Blue grew fainter and fainter. The others would find them, hopefully before whoever owned the compound did, they just had to hold out. She didn't want to die, not for some silly mistake, not with Blues life hanging over her head.
"C-c—Cassie! Wondergirl respond! What's your status? Wondergirl, Blue Beetle RESPOND!"
Ah, there they were, speak of the devil. Batgirl's voice was so reassuring right now; she barely remembered why she was pissed off at her in the first place. Wondergrl smiled as her eyes drifted close. They'll come, now that she knew that she felt the panic subside, so she finally allowed herself to fall into unconsciousness.