29
The Legion and the Justice Leagues returned to OmniTech tower in Los Angeles after their defeat on Themiscyra. It was the first major setback that the Legionnaires had been a party to and it rankled them. The Legion trio settled the Justice Leagues, the Crime Syndicate, and the returning Legion of Doom members in before retiring to their penthouse. Brainiac rallied the kitchen and drinks staff.
Brainiac made his reports to the LSV trio, "Booster Gold and Goldstar arrived at the Hall of Doom on schedule. However, despite being surrounded by John Lynch, Majestic, the Injustice Society, Regulus and his Basilisk forces, and a representative of the Court of Owls answering to the title of the Advisor who led a force of mercenaries, they found Luthor and the Female Furies had already absconded. And they took Big Barda with them. In other news, Booster and Goldstar handed over Mother of Champions to Grodd and Merlyn at the OmniTech facility in Pomona that has been made available to us."
"Is Luthor trying to sabotage our efforts after having done so much to bolster them?" Lightning Lord puzzled over it.
"Inconclusive," Brainiac replied, "However, I can tell you that Booster and Goldstar reported the loss of the temporal agent into enemy hands and they activated the Hall of Doom's emergency protocols. The facility itself now rests in orbit."
"Where?" Cosmic King sharply inquired.
A holographic display showed the locations of the Hall of Doom, the Watchtower, the International Space Station, and the Chinese Orbital Habitat. Brainiac highlighted the Hall of Doom's location by making it display in a red color, "There it is. In addition, alien probes attempted to locate and penetrate the security buffers of the world's artificial intelligences and near AI systems. I alone have been exempted for some odd reason."
"All of them?" Lightning Lord was skeptical.
"Roxy's defenses have gone to full alert. Brother Eye reported the necessity of the same to me. The Bat Computer's firewall has been attacked, necessitating secondary defensive measures that were heretofore unknown to anyone outside the system," Brainiac explained.
"Why do you classify the threat as being alien in nature?" Cosmic King wondered.
"Although the probes were launched from a classified ARGUS IP server, the language protocols of the computer accessing the IP was alien in origin. In fact, my systems should have recognized the language but strangely, that part of my memory seems denied to me," Brainiac reported, "Just as I am unable to interface with systems aboard the Hall of Doom at this current time."
"Why are you unable to communicate with the Hall?" Lightning Lord wanted to know.
"I am in communication," Brainiac sounded insulted, "I am unable to interface."
"Speculate as to why," Lightning Lord grated.
"I am unable to do so," Brainiac admitted, "It seems as though my interlink device with my main processor is offline. I have Booster and Goldstar attempting to ascertain the nature of the problem."
"Then why are you functioning here?" Cosmic King wanted to know.
"I maintain a functional, partial backup of my key processes here at OmniTech," Brainiac shared, "But I am merely a terrestrial computer operating from my backup."
"A computer with delusions of former glory, you mean," Lightning Lord chuckled.
"I find it very disturbing. As should you," Brainiac warned Lightning Lord and Cosmic King, "I am unable to function at my full parameters while I am crippled this way. In long term operations, that could prove troublesome."
"Could Brother Eye serve as a replacement?" Cosmic King asked.
"Brother Eye was approached by me on Luthor's behalf. He only answers to the entity known as the Other. Seeing as how the system was designed and constructed by Batman to catalogue, classify, and develop countermeasures against meta-human threats through the use of the OMAC sentries I believe Brother Eye would ultimately betray the Legion," Brainiac explained.
"Who is this 'Other'?" Lightning Lord demanded to know.
"Unknown. Hence he is being simply called the 'Other'," Brainiac reported, "Snatches of overheard conversation indicate the Crime Syndicate may know who and where he is."
"Saturn Queen, get Ultraman in here," Lightning Lord commanded. He looked around when he didn't get a reply, "Eve?"
"I'll check her room," Cosmic King offered. Lightning Lord was left wondering why he hadn't noticed her absence before. Normally all three LSV Founders were hyper aware of the others' locations.
"No!" Saturn Queen snarled to no one, "I told I'm done with you. You're dead already! I killed you!"
"It isn't easy letting go, is it?" Cosmic King asked from the doorway where he'd quietly forced the lock.
"Laevar!" she was startled. And a telepath was never startled. She wiped tears away.
"How can I help you after you apologize for this breech of privacy?" Saturn Queen asked.
"You're not alone, Eve," Cosmic King assured her, "Mekt and I are having difficulties putting our fake lives to rest as well. Only, you'd be hard pressed to get Mekt to admit it."
"Yes, he does have to pretend to be invincible," she said ruefully, "You expected this, didn't you?"
"I suspected it was happening given the difficulty I've faced," Cosmic King shared, "And the fact that you used your telepathy to slip away somewhere quietly."
"I'm sorry about that, Laevar. I just wanted to be alone," Saturn Queen confessed.
"Yet, you really aren't alone. Are you?" Cosmic King pointed out, "At least not in your mind."
"I could end your problem and Mekt's as well," Saturn Queen offered.
"You could?" Cosmic King was surprised.
"You obviously don't recall that I'm the one that created your false personas under the direction of the Titan Council whereas the full might of the council as directed through Imra Ardeen developed Tessa within my mind," Saturn Queen nearly spat Saturn Girl's name, "What I created I can also destroy."
"And what about yourself?" Cosmic King wondered.
"What she created I can also destroy. It'll just be harder," Saturn Queen promised.
"I'll tell Mekt," Cosmic King went down the hall.
Saturn Queen looked at the mirror dominating one wall, "I will destroy you."
She could have sworn her own image laughed at her.
It took some persuading to get Lightning Lord to admit to having a lingering problem. But once he allowed himself to he readily sat down in a recliner. Cosmic King sat in another nearby. Saturn Queen came from behind Lightning Lord and rested her fingertips on his temples.
"Just relax and let me in. Don't worry about anything I see, taste, smell, or touch. That will remain between your mind and I," Saturn Queen promised.
Closing her eyes her visual landscape shifted to an open sphere with a raging storm inside of it. Saturn Queen knew this was the root of Mekt's real problem. Lightning Lord literally believed in a mythical storm that gave him directions in life. This electrical disturbance in his brain was the root of that fixation. Yet she also knew from a doctor's scan of Mekt one time when he was injured that the disturbance was a result of biofeedback from the nature of his electrical powers working on his mind. Neither Lightning Lad nor Lightning Lass had such a problem. Which was probably why Mekt was the criminal and Garth and Ayla belonged to the Legion of Super Heroes.
Located in a strongbox at the base of the storm and at the root of Mekt's consciousness, was the artificial psyche. Saturn Queen pried the box open and studied its contents. Inside was a man named Leonard Skynx. Skynx had parleyed the monies provided him by the LSH and become wealthy. Living a dissolute life, Skynx had partied across the globe looking for a greater purpose and a grander destiny. Obviously elements of Mekt Ranzz had leaked into Skynx.
She erased Skynx with a wave of her hand. Mekt would know he'd lived an artificial life for two years but he'd have no lingering memories from that life. Saturn Queen could sense Mekt's mind shudder as it adapted to its new reality. And like most minds, it most easily adapted to changes it wanted made. Even the electrical storm at the root of his consciousness ebbed. So Eve Aries withdrew from Mekt's mind.
"My. God," Lightning Lord gasped, "Everything is so clear now!"
"You're welcome," Saturn Queen said without being smug, "Now for you."
Laevar Bolto was more hesitant. There were feelings of guilt and remorse wrapped around his strongbox. And hatred and a desire for vengeance.
Inside Laevar she found a fellow by the name of Clifford Banes. Like Tessa Richardson, Banes had fully embraced his new life, fallen in love, gotten married, and even had a child. But when Laevar Bolto broke through the cracks and killed Banes' wife and child, he thought he'd locked Banes' rage up with the man himself. Even Saturn Queen had missed that on her first pass disentangling Mekt and Laevar from their false lives.
Just as Skynx longing for a grand destiny had haunted Mekt, so too did Banes' wrath haunt Laevar. As she eliminated the threat she could visibly see his mind sag in relief. Eve knew from experience with Tessa that Banes had undoubtedly attacked Laevar when he was at his lowest ebbs. And with his defenses down, Laevar would be more prone to suggestion from the buried psyche. Just as Laevar had undermined Banes at one time.
Saturn Queen broke contact, both mentally and physically. The strain of the precision she'd had to operate with had taxed her inner reserves. Tessa's next uprising wouldn't be far off.
"Thank you!" Cosmic King said gratefully.
"I'm going to my room. Please have some food and a pitcher of water left for me at my door," Saturn Queen requested, "I'll see you both tomorrow morning."
She returned to the master bedroom. Lightning Lord faced Brainiac's holographic hologram, "Inform everyone we're beginning a forty-eight hour moratorium on active operations."
"As you wish," Brainiac leapt to it, "And would you recommend a meal selection for my Queen?"
Lightning Lord marveled how Eve could make anyone love her. Even a machine. He and Cosmic King collaborated on a menu. And they made certain it was understood not to serve wine with her meal. She needed her faculties fully alert and cognizant. She was battling for her life, after all.
"She's not going to beat this alone," Lightning Lord fretted.
"What do you recommend? She's the most powerful telepath on the planet. Hell, in the solar system," Cosmic King retorted.
"We have the Martian and the Brotherhood of Evil reported the existence of a second Martian on Earth," Lightning Lord reminded him.
"J'onn Jonzz is the last Green Martian. We both know that to be a historical fact. And he's under Eve's power and has broken her hold on him once already. I wouldn't find it advisable to send him into her mind."
"Then we enlist the other Martian's aid," Lightening Lord insisted.
"There are no more Green Martians!" Cosmic King was adamant.
"I never said she was a Green Martian," Lightning Lord pointed out.
"A White Martian?" Cosmic King looked stunned, "Helping the citizens of Earth?"
"Stranger things have happened even in our time," Lightening Lord replied.
"The question is, does she know her own people will be annihilated in a few years?" Cosmic King asked.
"No, the real question is what would she do for details surrounding that event?" Lightning Lord smirked.
The Crime Syndicate was gathered in a quiet corner of the main lounge. Riddler had returned with Query and Echo behind him and they'd gone out to inspect the underground gambling scene in Los Angeles. Penguin and Two-Face had returned to Gotham to inspect their secretly linked criminal empires. Scarecrow was in the lab perfecting his Venom based fear toxin.
Having time off, the Crime Syndicate each enjoyed a stiff drink while waiting for Superwoman to rejoin them. She sauntered up wearing a scowl. She'd ordered up at the bar upon entering the room.
"The Other reports Brother Eye is deflecting some kind of alien probe. It's wreaking havoc with the older OMACs," she reported.
"What kind of aliens?" Ultraman asked.
"The outer space kind," Superwoman hissed at him, "Don't you find it too coincidental that Superman's alien daughter shows up hours before alien probes start attacking Brother Eye?"
Ultraman thought about it, "No."
"Gah!" Superwoman swatted him upside the head, "You're useless."
"Stop it!" Ultraman demanded, "Mother and fathers said…"
"My mommy and daddies said!" Superwoman sneered, "Grow up! They don't want you at all. They want him!"
Superwoman pointed at Superman across the room, "They always choose him over you. Get used to it. No one will ever want you while he's alive."
"Except us," Atomica quickly threw in, "We're your only hope and your only friends really."
Even if Ultraman didn't grasp it, the assurance of friendship from a woman whose idea of good time was throwing infants into a wood chipper wasn't reassuring.
"S…so…what…d…do...wuh…we…do?" Power Ring fearfully stammered.
The Ring of Volthoom was punishing Jessica Cruz for her recent losses. Atomica was delighting in Jessica's terror all while playing at being her friend.
"We go to the Other and help him prepare for the star gate's activation," Superwoman told them.
"It's finally ready?" Atomica's heart and libido soared.
"Yes, the trial runs have already been completed. Soon the gate will be opened to Earth-3 and we can finally bring everyone we want to across the dimensional wall here to Earth Prime," Superwoman said with relish, "And the Other has been in contact with Owlman, Deathstorm, Johnny Quick, and the Sea King the entire time we've been gone. Alex Luthor thought they were dead as did Darkseid's whore, Mortalla. Max Lord wanted to believe it so he has without question or investigation."
"Awl right!" Atomica wanted to cheer, "I'll be reunited with Johnny and you'll have Owlman. It's a great day to be alive and psychotic."
"Shouldn't we at least say goodbye?" Ultraman whined.
"No!" Superwoman and Atomica tersely said at the same time.
Power Ring hysterically tittered. Superwoman sighed, "Get her under control and let's meet at the elevator. You, I'm not letting out of my sight."
Ultraman sulked when Superwoman told him that.
"I can't believe they killed him. Not Scott," Atom was aghast, "What are we going to tell Barda?"
"That he died fighting for what he believed in," Superman stated, "At least, if she can ever accept his new allegiance."
"I find that unlikely," J'onn admitted, "Scott Free was hardly Big Barda's only reason for leaving the Female Furies behind when she was their leader. Scott found her a way off of Apokolips but she'd made her decision alone to go. And we all know Granny Goodness' influence over her orphans."
"Some better than others," Superman grumbled, "But Barda may leave Earth now. Highfather would take her in to New Genesis but she may not want to even be around other New Gods after this. Look at Bekka leaving Orion and joining the Sinestro Corps."
"And if Scott had never come to Earth he wouldn't have adopted the Mr. Miracle identity and he never would have joined the Justice League," Atom postulated, "At least the Justice League Unlimited anyway, since we're the only true Justice League."
"You're not going to start that again, are you?" Superman complained.
Atom seemed oblivious the fact the room was filled with members of the Justice League International, "Why shouldn't I?"
"Because we are gathered to honor Mr. Miracle's memory and the kindness he bestowed upon us by being in our lives," J'onn reminded him.
"Uh…right. To Scott!" Atom toasted.
Superman clinked his coffee mug against Atom's and J'onn glass of milk. J'onn excused himself, "I shall return shortly."
When the Martian came back, he had a platter full of Oreos and a pitcher of milk. Superman happily dug in. Atom looked queasy.
"Guys? Do you have any idea of how bad those are for you?" Atom inquired.
"I'm invulnerable," Superman said with a full mouth.
"On Mars these would be consider organic health food," J'onn revealed.
"Captain Marvel introduced you to Oreos, didn't he?" Superman asked J'onn.
"And a happy day that was," J'onn recalled fondly.
"I wonder how Captain Marvel is doing." Superman admitted, "We've seen a few All Stars out there but their heavy hitters seem to be absent."
"I've wondered about that myself," J'onn confessed, "It does seem odd when the combined might of the Justice League of America and the JSA All Stars could possibly overwhelm us."
"Who cares?" Atom shrugged, "They'd just oppose the Legion anyway."
"I wonder why," Superman confessed, "And why did we used to? It's all kind of hazy now."
"Indeed," J'onn frowned.
"We believe that is a question worth reflecting upon," Samurai told them as Black Vulcan and Apache Chief surrounded the JLers' table.
"Traitors," Atom grumbled.
"Uh…have a seat?" Superman offered.
J'onn guarded the Oreos and the milk. Superman swatted him away. The JLI members sat down between the JLU members.
"We need to discuss why we're with the Legion and not fighting it anymore," Black Vulcan said forthrightly, "If you aren't up to it, take a walk."
Atom fidgeted but he stayed where he was at, Apache Chief approved, "The question remains, why are we suddenly allied with our traditional foes? What changed in an instant?"
"I don't know," Superman admitted, "It just makes sense now when it didn't use to."
"But why is that?" Samurai pressed harder.
"Because Saturn Queen is a tremendously powerful telepath and she manipulated our minds to make us swear allegiance to her," J'onn revealed, "And only her."
"Which is very interesting because there are three of them," Black Vulcan remarked, "So what do we do about it?"
"You had no right to open negotiations with the Injustice Society!" Waller bellowed at Katana inside her office within the Hall of Justice.
"I approved of the deal," Batman shut Waller down; "I ordered their release because I believe Tigress will honor her word. She honestly believes Katana will kill her if she doesn't."
"And will she?" Waller angrily asked.
"Yes," Katana insisted.
"No," Batman did his own insisting.
"Threats are useless without follow through," Waller lamented.
"Tigress' history, in fact her whole damn family's, revolves around revenge," Steve Trevor pointed out, "And Tigress believes the Legion screwed her and Icicle. She'll come through for us. And if not, Katana can say hello to the happy hunting grounds."
Batman scowled. Waller warded him off, "Stay out of it Batman. This is a JLA matter now."
"Law enforcement isn't a covert operation," Batman argued.
"Actually, most of the time it is," Waller retorted, "Which brings us to Nightwing. Where is he? Little Mermaid is panicking."
"Nightwing is a grown man. He can extricate himself from whatever situation he's placed himself in," Batman said indifferently.
"Colonel, Katana, could you excuse us? And Colonel, please wait outside," Waller directed.
"You're freaked out about Nightwing," Waller observed.
"I'm concerned. There's a difference," Batman corrected her.
"My people faced the Court of Owls. They're sneaky bastards but they didn't turn out to be as dangerous as their legends portrayed," Waller commented.
"You didn't face the Court of Owls. You faced a single nest. Gotham is their leadership hub but the Court exists throughout the world. They have nests in every country," Batman warned her, "The Owl advisor who ran the mercenaries in Florida matched the description of Lincoln March."
"Your little brother," Waller acknowledged the importance of that information.
"His daughter, Helena Wayne, was Dick's immediate field commander in Spyral. She had access to everything about him," Batman divulged, "Presumable Lincoln knows everything she now does. Given Lincoln's propensity for mind games and Helena's volume of ammunition, there's no telling what Dick is into."
"Sonuvabitch!" Waller snapped.
"Eloquently put," Batman said drolly.
"I'll put a team together," Waller offered.
"I know someone that can move within the Owl ranks unseen," Batman turned the offer down, "I need twenty-four hours to prep him then I'll be back."
"You have your time," Waller promised him, "Send Steve in here in your way out. And good luck."
"It's never about luck," Batman advised her.
Trevor reentered the office and Waller shared the news, "Batman is indisposed for twenty-four hours. That makes you the field commander."
"Except I answer to you," Trevor tested her out.
"Legally speaking, you do. But operationally you're on your own," Waller pledged, "But I would recommend getting a team inside the Hall of Doom ASAP."
"Penny called in her landing," Trevor informed the JLA Director, "Slade is taking his people back to Bailya and Nyssa is headed to Nanda Parbat. Which leaves us breaking in a rookie Wonder Woman and a would-be alien conqueror."
"Kalea-El has shown a talent for embroiling herself in Justice League operations lately. Batman vouched for her motives. I accept his word," Waller told him.
"And her motives are?" Trevor wondered.
"To defend her sister, which she has, and to liberate her father from mind control, which she hasn't done yet," Waller explained.
"Is she fully aware of the facts in this case?" Trevor wondered.
"She should be by now," Waller smirked, "She's hacked virtually every computer on Earth."
"What?" Trevor yelped, "How?"
"She has communications relay set up with her shuttle and she used the IP server on the Invisible Jet to access human networks. Batman reported that she also had access to an Almeracian intelligence gathering system inside our own solar system," Waller explained, "Every cyber police unit in the world is on high alert after having her rape all of their computers."
"We have to do something," Trevor insisted.
"POTUS and the SecDef know but ARGUS is completely deniable so it can't be brought back to us evidentiary wise," Waller insisted.
"We should still take her into custody," Trevor urged.
"How?" Waller wondered, "She's only half-Kryptonian. Our countermeasures would eliminate Power Girl from responding to a crisis and the Marvels have already proven that Kalea would still be a match for Black Adam and Isis. And I doubt our new Wonder Woman would be inclined to join Troia in a conflict with someone who may very well be her best friend now."
"So we do nothing?" Trevor was reeling from that concept.
"We talk it through with her and deliver a slap on her wrist," Waller suggested.
"And if she refuses to talk?" Trevor wondered.
"Then we have more than elements from one Justice League to throw at her now, don't we?" Waller smiled.
Waller was still smiling when she greeted Wonder Woman in the foyer. Penny and the Blackhawks hung back as Artemis and Kalea took the forefront.
"Greetings, Wonder Woman. I'm JLA Director Amanda Waller and this is Sue Dibney, our Chief of Operations, and my personal assistant, Maven. We'll be briefing you on our current situation and our ongoing responses to the threat."
"You may simply call me Artemis of Bana-Maghdall," she insisted.
"And Artemis and Diana are both the Greek and Roman names for the same goddess of the hunt," Maven pointed out.
"Thank you, Maven," Waller said icily, "Now Artemis, if you'll accompany us to our briefing theater?"
Sue gave Maven an encouraging look while Artemis bluntly asked, "And afterwards we can go kill our enemies?"
"I like your thinking if not your timing," Waller consoled Artemis.
Trevor intercepted Kalea, "Pardon me, but you're Princess Kalea-El?"
She gave him an amused smile, "Kalea-El is my formal address used in matters of state and policy as well as legal means. I have been formally stripped of title, rank, and even citizenship. So I am no longer a noble, a citizen, a subject, or a slave of Almerac or its subject worlds. I'm simply Kalea."
"Very well then…, Kalea. I have some official questions for you," Trevor motioned and Elongated Man joined him, "This is Ralph Dibney. He's a detective and will be standing in as the JLA's official investigator."
"Have I committed a crime?" Kalea sounded even more amused.
"We'll be determining that," Trevor warned her.
"Want me to come, honey?" Penny offered.
"Thank you but I'll be fine," Kalea said confidently.
"Be good to mah friend, Colonel. Or Ah'll rip ya'll a new one," Penny threatened Trevor.
While Trevor marveled over Penny's reaction, Ralph made his own introductions, "Like he said, I'm Ralph. But I'm also the Elongated Man and your invasion made my life a living hell. I hope to return the favor."
"Thank you for your honesty, Ralph, "Kalea allowed, "However, I spent months on a frozen planet where I faced death by predators every day. Then I have spent the better part of over four hundred of your solar days fighting the Gordanian invasion of our borders. You remember mentions of the Gordanians, don't you? They're the race that eradicated the Thanagarians, the winged race that easily conquered your world. The Gordanians don't conquer in the traditional sense. They don't capture and they don't enslave. They devour, usually while their prisoners are still alive. So how do you think you can possibly threaten me?"
Ralph stared at Trevor while he gulped. The Colonel took over, "Superman's report justifying the Justice League placing your mother back on her throne to bolster the war effort was not well received. King making shouldn't be a part of interstellar politics."
"No, just national ones," Kalea smirked, "Is this where we're going to conduct my interrogation."
Kalea had stopped in front of the very door they were headed for. Trevor was slightly disarmed, "Um…yes."
"May I say hello to the fellow in the very flamboyant floral print shirt in the next room?" Kalea wondered.
"Just get inside," Trevor opened the door. She waved at Hula Hula through the two-way mirror.
"That's right! You're half-Kryptonian," Ralph recalled.
"You are a detective," Kalea patronized him, "Although most nobles on my world possess psychokinetic gifts, my Kryptonian heritage has made my mental gifts largely recessive rather than dominant."
Kalea looked around, "I'm surprised you don't have Galatea standing by next door."
"Please stop looking around," Trevor tried getting control of the situation.
"I think it's too late for that, don't you?" Kalea mused.
"We call Galatea 'Power Girl" now," Trevor informed her.
Kalea groaned, "You people and your code-names. Honestly, who would look at you and suddenly cry out in terror that the Elongated Man had arrived?"
"I…uh…um…" Ralph tried to protest.
"Enough!" Trevor snapped, "Did you or did you not hack the global computer networks looking for information?"
"Hack?' Kalea sounded out the word.
"Access, pilfer, rifle through, break into…y'know, that sort of thing," Ralph translated for her.
"Ah, my language lessons seem to have skipped that use of the word. On Almerac we refer to it as code slicing. Something I'm rather good at, you see," Kalea explained, "And I didn't even have to try to access your systems. Their defenses were woefully pathetic."
"So you admit it," Trevor was astonished.
"Gladly," Kalea said happily, "And I wasn't the first."
"Excuse us?" Ralph suddenly said.
"Oh, you wouldn't be able to detect the footprints but other races have breezed through your networks as well. Some were concerned with sociological data and others military and defensive plans and capabilities," Kalea warned them.
"And which did you restrict yourself to?" Trevor was getting a headache.
"I didn't restrict myself to anything. But I did focus on meta-human law enforcement and criminals," Kalea shared.
"Are you planning an attack on our planet?" Trevor fumed.
"Of course not," Kalea sighed, "I would've brought a fleet rather than a single shuttle if I were planning an invasion. I'm here to find out who ordered my death and who killed my friend and the crew of her imperial corvette. In order to do that I had to collect a candidate list of suspects. I tried just going to your International Security Agency but they only receive data on a voluntary basis. So then I went straight to the sources and found they only release data as it pertains to their own security. So I eliminated the middle man and simply released all the data to all the people."
"You did what?" Trevor sputtered.
"Every file your individual law enforcement agencies ever compiled on a meta-human or masked criminal is now public domain," Kalea said proudly.
Ralph sputtered trying to contain his mirth. Trevor was on the verge of an aneurism, "Do you know what you've done?"
"Probably better than you do," Kalea said sagely.
Trevor bolted out of the room. Kalea looked at the mirror, "He seems to have pulled your friend out as well."
"Why did you do it?" Ralph had tears in his eyes.
"The keeping of secrets reinforced the divisions in my society. The castes were so stubbornly set in their roles and their distrust of one another that we couldn't marshal a defense against the Gordanians. It took a disastrous experiment with democracy to teach us what should have been obvious. We treated one another as greater cultural criminals than the real enemy," Kalea explained at last, "One of those secrets was the identity files of repeat offenders. Only criminals made examples of by the state were known to the populace. Therefore they were vulnerable to repeated efforts to bilk them. Even violent criminals with a high enough caste association had been protected by the nobility."
"Working as a rebel against the government I saw through these gaps in our society. And when the Triad failed to solve them, I gambled everything and placed my mother back on the throne and she addressed these inequalities as one of her first acts as our restored Empress," Kalea elaborated.
"So where did that leave you?" Ralph had to wonder.
"At the head of the list of violent and repeat criminals," Kalea explained, "And I was offered the role of elite problem solver by my mother in continuation of my work with the Democratic Triad in order to earn a parole and an amnesty from my criminal record. Much like your former Suicide Squad. I simply view my actions as a jump start for your society to mirror ours."
"Too bad no one will ever see it that way," Ralph said wistfully.
"Perhaps if you released the recording you're making of this conversation, they would," Kalea added.
Maven took Artemis on a tour while Sue checked with the operations center. There she found Trevor yelling into a phone. He slammed the receiver into its cradle.
"Woman's a goddamn menace!" he shouted.
Everyone went deathly still and Waller came out of her office, "What the hell is going on?"
"Kalea," Trevor said with exasperation, "She dumped every file on meta-human and masked criminals in the world into public domains. I'm talking every file, no matter how classified."
"What?" Waller roared.
"Where is Kalea?" Sue asked.
"Excuse me?" Trevor wondered what she was talking about.
"You're here. Hula is here, where's Kalea and where's Ralph?" Sue fretted.
"Jee-zus people! Get back to the interrogation rooms!" Waller shooed them on.
They arrived to find Ralph in the observation room playing with a computer while Kalea sat alone in the interrogation room observing him. She waved at Sue and Trevor. Sue blinked and then got it.
"Right. X-Ray vision," Sue said and Kalea smiled, "And super hearing."
"Ralph, what are you doing?" Trevor inquired.
"Nothing much," Ralph replied. To Sue he sounded guilty. She peered over his shoulder.
He'd attached some file to his Facebook page and tweeted as well. He also seemed to be on…Wiki Leaks? He winked at her and motioned for her to not talk about it.
She wondered what he was playing at but she stayed quiet like he'd asked. So she simply asked, "Are you ready?"
"Yep," he confirmed it. Whatever damage he'd done was committed now. He was very happy with whatever it was.
Waller threw open the interrogation room door, "Happy, Ms. El?"
Kalea repeated her lecture regarding her name, "And I will be happy when I bring this Legion of Super Villains to some form of justice. Even yours."
"Thank you for acknowledging our sovereign right to govern our planet as we see fit," Waller said acidly, "Could you now refrain from releasing every classified file in the world to the public?"
"You wish to protect rather than expose criminals?" Kalea asked a tad archly.
"I would protect those that cooperate with the assorted governments," Waller grated, "You've exposed them to the world and especially to their peers. There will be a lot of deaths on your hands as a result and an incalculable loss of intelligence on our parts."
"Death and I are old friends," Kalea said sadly.
"Maybe there wouldn't be if you did what you were told and also kept your nose out of private affairs," Waller snapped at her.
"Yet you want my help," Kalea ventured, "So you'll forgive my trespasses."
Waller looked stumped. Trevor recalled Kalea's words regarding the noble classes of her world and their mental gifts. He wondered just how recessive Kalea's genes were.
"I need you to attend a briefing," Waller quickly recovered, "We need your help in reaching an orbital position. Our local options would simply take too long to prepare."
"Of course," Kalea consented, "I'd be happy to help. Provided it aids in the search for the Legionnaires."
Waller heard a naked hunger in Kalea's voice and realized Kalea's search only had a little bit to do with her father. What the young woman really wanted was revenge. Waller could provide that. Though she couldn't imagine how the Legion had offended the Almeracian.
Sue and Trevor briefed the JLA with Artemis and Kalea in attendance. Sue concluded her brief that included data from NASA, "That's how we have eyes on the Hall of Doom. The USAF did a flyby of the base with two of their space planes. They reported lights on but no sign of inhabitants. The Russians and Chinese are preparing launches of their own with a mandate to destroy the Hall of Doom."
"But we need interior access long enough to retrieve Brainiac's core processor," Trevor instructed everyone, "Thanks to our resident expert on Kryptonian tech, we now know the processor will be a crystalline shard the size of a small vase."
Kalea hadn't even known about Brainiac's existence until Trevor asked her about a Kryptonian built model. Argo had been festooned with similar systems. It didn't take much imagination to downgrade an interface to hook the processor up to human systems.
"Our ride here also assures us the crystal will be highly resistant to fractures and could survive a direct nuclear strike," Trevor added, "Most of you have never operated in a microgravity environment. Some of you have barely flown before this. Therefore this mission is on a volunteer basis only."
Every hand went up except Kalea's. She was guaranteed to go no matter who else went with her. Trevor smiled.
"I guess that makes it unanimous. Any signs of Azrael yet? Or Sister Lilhy?" he inquired.
"Sister Lilhy departed to retrieve Azrael," Katana informed him.
"As long as he's in one piece when he gets back," Trevor shrugged.
Hula Hula burst into the briefing theater, "Bad news, boss folks. The All Stars returned to the K-Star Ranch with Goldilocks and the Teen Titans went back to San Francisco and took Ravager with them."
"Sue, go hold the other JLers' hands before we lift off," Trevor instructed.
Kalea was intercepted in the hallway by Penny, "Ah hear ya'll are goin' inta space. To the Hall of Doom specifically."
"Yes, you can come," Kalea offered.
"Whut?" Penny was thrown off guard.
"You were in the process of asking me if you could come with us. Right?" Kalea said, "I just simply said 'yes' right away. Saves time that way."
"Ah don't know what to say?" Penny was almost speechless.
"Say you'll come with us and I'll let you fly the mission," Kalea stated.
"Ah wouldn't know how to fly your shuttle," Penny was ready to faint.
"It's not that hard," Kalea promised her, "It's mostly automated. That's how dummies like me fly through interstellar space without killing ourselves."
"Ah…Ah...of course! Of course Ah'll come!" Penny gushed.
"Good, meet me in my shuttle in fifteen of your minutes," Kalea went on her way again.
"Congratulations," Plastic Man cuddled with his wife.
"Ah can't believe it," Penny breathed, "Ah'm flyin' in space again. Ah haven't done that since we went to the Moon to deal with those alien blackmailers."
"Good times," Plas sighed.
"Plas, this here is a real space ship. A push of a button and we'd be on the other side of the galaxy. Maybe in another one altogether," Penny said halfway between dreamily and in terror, "It's like a dream come true."
"Then I guess it's about time it did," Plastic Man assured her, "And you'll be great. I trust you a lot more than I trust her."
"Plas!" Penny scolded him.
"Okay, I mean it's not like she's invading Earth to enslave humanity or anything like that this time but I can't say her motives are pure," Plastic Man replied.
"Ya'll can be a real stinker, you know?" Penny chided him.
"I'm releasing them, Steve. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it!" Nightshade angrily told Trevor.
"Think about this, Eve," Trevor insisted, "Are we really prepared for a Flash or a Firestorm to be cut loose in here?"
"That's bullshit and you know it!" Nightshade accused, "You know what the Night Force does to people in an instant and they've been in there for days. You damn well know with certainty they may never recover."
Green Lantern stared down Trevor, "Is this true?"
"Can you contain them if she lets them out?" Trevor deflected the question.
"Of course I can," John Stewart promised.
"He means we can," Shayera Hol amended for him.
Captain Atom was in a fresh containment suit, "I can contain Firestorm."
"And we've got the Flash," John angrily promised, "Better than you ever had."
"Hula, call in a medical team. Just in case," Trevor ordered, "I'm going into orbit."
"Not fast enough," John grated.
Three EMT teams and a trauma specialist arrived with gurneys, "All right we're as ready as we can get."
"Your turn," John warned Nightshade.
She created a rift into the Night Force and vanished into it. Minutes later she dragged out Firestorm. He was catatonic. As soon as he was separated from the Night Force, he split back into being Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein. The EMT teams when to work while Nightshade reentered the Night Force for the Flash.
"Patient is alive but nonresponsive," Ronnie's team told the doctor.
"Same here," Stein's team reported.
"Get them to the med center stat. I'll call it in," the doctor used her handset radio to call the center while the EMTs loaded gurneys and headed through a seldom used door into a wing that most tried to avoid.
Nightshade returned with the Flash. The EMTs went to work assessing him, "We have some arrhythmia. We need to monitor his heart."
"Load him up!" the doctor said tersely.
"I'll deal with you later," John warned Nightshade. Shayera went with him so they could stand vigil over Wally West. Captain Atom decided to check on Ronnie and Prof. Stein.
Nightshade leaned against a wall and slid to the floor. Black Orchid tried consoling her, "Cheer up, Eve. At least you got them out of there while they were still alive."
"That's not much cause for praise," Eve Eden grumped, "You don't have a pissed off Green Lantern looking for your head."
"It'll be okay," Black Orchid promised.
"Will it?" Nightshade wondered, "I just hospitalized two men we're trying to return to our ranks. And Goldilocks took off and she's our whole damn reason for being here."
"I don't want to leave," Silver Swan insisted.
"For once I'm in agreement with Feather Head," Enchantress saw Silver Swan's annoyed expression and relented, "I mean Valerie. We're doing some good and due a break here really soon."
"Like finding out where the rest of the All Stars are hiding during this?" Nightshade was scornful.
"I know precisely where they're at," Enchantress revealed, "It's just that the Subtle Realms are a little out of my reach."
"Same here," Nightshade muttered while rolling an idea around in her mind.
Nightshade leapt to her feet, "I'll contact Dr. Fate. A Lord of Order would surely be able to retrieve the All Stars."
"Eve, wait…!" Black Orchid said but Nightshade had already dived into the Night Force.
"And then there were three," Silver Swan quipped.
Vapor stood watch over Dr. Mist while Belphegor jumped through the examination hoops. Praxis and Gypsy were with her keeping her calmed down. Black Bat and Batwing were simply charged with keeping Ulla and Owlwoman contained inside the building.
Vapor hoped like hell that Mist would recover. If he was lost to the JLI, that left the organization in Belphegor and Vapor's hands with Jack O'Lantern's death. That was a little more responsibility than Vapor felt ready for. In fact, it freaked her out.
Godiva and Killer Frost had stepped out to L'Albero Dei Gelati on the intersection of 5th Ave and 4th St in Brooklyn. Despite the January snow, Killer Frost enjoyed a frozen gelato and an iced coffee. And they sat outside. Godiva kept her coffee close to her face to shield it from the cold wind.
"Well, this is a first for me," Godiva indicated the snowy seating.
Killer Frost wore simple jeans and a sweatshirt in comparison to Godiva's parka and layers of leggings, "Thanks for dredging up something for me to wear."
"Troia seemed roughly your size," Godiva pointed out.
"Sorry about being out here but I'd be tempted to start absorbing the heat inside. That would freeze everything and everyone in there," Killer Frost said glumly.
"Do you have to absorb the heat?" Godiva wondered.
"Occasionally just so I don't go comatose and freeze over myself," Killer Frost mentioned, "Enough heat and I revert back to regular flesh and blood. For about ten minutes."
"And you did this to yourself?" Godiva tried to grasp that part.
"When Crystal Frost became the first Killer Frost she didn't know I was a bundle of unrequited love. When she died, I felt lost. Like someone had carved out my heart. So I used the equipment at the lab to duplicate her accident and became the second Killer Frost," she explained, "I wanted to avenge Crystal's death. I think I've accomplished that a hundred times over. It's time to move on. And I never considered the long term ramifications of what I'd done to myself."
"What kind of ramifications?" Godiva inquired.
Killer Frost looked very embarrassed, "Like the first time I went to Acapulco. I met someone in a bar and we went back to my room. I was in the middle of a muff dive when I got too excited and just let go," Killer Frost warned her.
"Sounds enjoyable to me," Godiva wore a naughty smirk.
"No, I drained all the heat out of her body. She froze and she died from it," Killer Frost hated to admit.
Godiva could hear her honest remorse. And Louise Lincoln had brought this story up to make a point. There were very real dangers too becoming involved with her.
"So…we might end up just being platonic if anything were to start between us," Killer Frost stated, "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that 'accident' were to happen again."
"You said you could be superheated," Godiva pointed out.
"But the temperatures are beyond what human beings can endure," Killer Frost said miserably, "Other than that it's not losing myself to the passion of the moment."
"Which is sort of the whole bloody point to sex," Godiva commiserated, "I work with some of the smartest people on Earth. Surely one of them will have an idea."
"Then there's the whole 'wanted by the law' thing," Killer Frost reminded her, "Unless you want to copy Orange is the New Black; I don't we'd last through an extended sentence. Not unless we had years under our collective belts."
"I can make some calls about that as well when we return to the Hall of Justice," Godiva promised.
Killer Frost thought things were going even faster than she'd expected as she seductively licked her gelato.
Booster Gold and Goldstar were inspecting every system inside the Hall of Doom. When the emergency protocols had engaged every type of signal except for specialized radio gear had been isolated out of the Hall's controls. Brainiac had suddenly lost control of the computers and the twins were trying to determine why.
Finally they found the server containing the crystal interface. Only, the shard that served as Brainiac's CPU and hard drive was missing. Booster called it in.
"This is most distressing. That shard is essentially my very being," Brainiac informed them.
"Yet you're operational," Goldstar pointed out.
"I maintain copies of my essential processes at various servers across the globe. The one at OmniTech currently serves as my host. Yet most of my functions are disabled without the control node crystal. My abilities are pared down to a fraction of their usual levels," Brainiac explained.
"Life support is deactivating and we'll have to be out of here within a few minutes of it shutting down," Booster shared.
"And there is activity at the Hall of Justice as well. They seemed to have launched some form of extraterrestrially capable shuttle. In addition, both the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China have launched prototype space fighters. Unlike the planes that flew by you earlier, these are armed with orders to destroy the facility," Brainiac told therm.
"Then that's our cue to exit," Booster activated a boom tube and he and his sister went through to arrive that the Legion's private underground parking level. The twins went to the private elevator and passed their retinal screenings to utilize the elevator itself. Rather than ascend, they descended into the training levels and the laboratories.
Kalea had monitored Penny as the shuttle lifted off. The controls displayed Kalea's native tongue. Almerac had chosen one overlapping language to govern the empire's speech and they had wisely chosen a neutral language from an academic world other than Almerac. Kalea fluently spoke over thirty languages from within Imperial borders as well as a dozen alien tongues like English.
So Penny was reduced to reading pictographic displays utilized by the shuttle to translate its needs and surrounding environment to aliens. Kalea had stepped from time to time to adjust Penny's course corrections but like Kalea had stated earlier, the shuttle did most of the actual flying.
"Ease of the primary engine," Kalea suggested. Penny tapped the rear plasma drive section of the shuttle's mini display on her screen and edged down a bar meter. The shuttle's output decreased as Penny edged the meter further down.
"That good enough?" Penny asked.
"You might as well kill the sublight drive," Kalea reasoned, "You can take us in by RMS thrusters alone at this point. You just watch your proximity sensor and cut thrust when we slowly drift up to the building's airlock. Our airlock's mag seal wil automatically engage in proximity and lock itself to their docking collar."
"This is so cool!" Penny gushed.
Alarms began to sound and most of the displays turned red. Penny yelped, "Ah didn't do anythin'!"
"No, space craft launched from the surface have targeted us and are engaging us," Kalea frowned as swiveled her seat around to face Trevor, "I take it this is unexpected."
"They're prototype ships. We didn't know they could actually launch at this point," Trevor admitted.
"I presume they have orders to destroy this facility and us along with it," Kalea guessed.
"That would be my first assumption," Trevor agreed.
"You people and your nation-states," Kalea grumped, "This is going to be problematic."
"How?" Penny wondered and Trevor did to.
"We could evade them, outrun them, destroy them outright, or simply activate our defensive shields and let them waste ammo," Kalea listed the options, "But that's all useless if they gut the place we're trying to enter."
The tone of the alarms altered and Kalea was perturbed, "And now they're firing missiles at us."
She reached to the center display and tapped a control. Bands of light emitted from the miniature shuttle display until they formed a solid barrier around it, "Don't worry. I simply raised our force field."
Detonations made the ship shudder. Kalea turned to Penny, "The shock waves will require overt course corrections."
"Ah'm on it," and Kalea was happy to observe Penny was as good as her word.
"Have any suggestions, Colonel?" Kalea was enjoying watch Trevor's frustration mount.
"Can you patch me into those fighters?" he inquired.
"Easily. But I don't know they're specific operating frequency so yours will be a broadband blanket transmission on every frequency," Kalea advised him.
"Do it," he ordered.
Kalea handed him a toothpick, "You're on."
"Seriously?" he asked.
"I wouldn't waste words while they're locking on to their targets, Colonel," Kalea pointed out.
"Attention Russian and Chinese fighters. This is a rescue operation being conducted by the United States of America," Trevor announced, "Please disengage and return to your respective bases or we will be forced to defend ourselves."
Trevor made a cutting motion and Kales terminated the transmission, "Now what?"
"You said you had weapons systems," Trevor reminded her, "Can you simply shoot the missiles?"
"Of course, but…" Kalea started to protest.
"They've fired everythin'!" Penny exclaimed.
"Shoot them down!" Trevor yelled.
Kalea did as she was ordered to. The detonations tore the fragile space fighters to shreds and the parts burned their way through the atmosphere. Trevor and Penny simply stared in transfixed horror.
"Ah think Ah'm gonna be sick," Penny warned everyone.
Kalea handed her what looked like a respirator, "This will take care of any discharge."
"How…how could you?" Trevor was stunned.
"I tried to warn you about the shockwaves versus their airframes. But you demanded I open fire without all the facts," Kalea calmly pointed out while Penny vomited. Her mask disintegrated the contents of her stomach.
"I need to make course adjustments," Kalea warned Penny.
Penny waved her on. Transferring flight controls to her station, Kalea righted the shuttle's rearward headed course. Trevor was still speechless.
"You're accusing me of ordering their deaths?" Trevor was perplexed.
"Unintentionally to be sure," Kalea amended, "But the net result is constant."
"You could have tried harder to warn me," Trevor did his own accusing.
"You weren't rational then and you certainly aren't now," Kalea said coldly, "Be advised, Colonel. Humans aren't my favorite race. There's still a part of me that blames my father's absence in my youth on your people. If some threat had destroyed you all, it would've been a result of your own weaknesses not my father's absence from this planet."
Penny stared at her in horror. Trevor was getting a better appreciation of Almerac, "Your birth was a business transaction."
Kalea shrugged, "My mother wanted a suitable heir. My father wanted guilt free sex with a woman he couldn't kill while cavorting with. They each got what they desired. That's how things are...were done in the Empire. But that's slowly changing from my mother on down."
"And what about you?" Penny asked.
"I loved a man named Marcus with all of my heart. I thought he'd died before I invaded Earth. Part of my anger was born from my grief. But afterwards, Marcus delivered me from Argo and we toppled the government together."
"And how did that end?" Trevor wanted to know.
"I killed him so my mother could retake the throne;" Kalea said flatly, "Life support aboard this 'Hall of Doom' has been disengaged. No humans can survive the interior temperature extreme."
"Don't you have environment suits?" Trevor was perplexed.
"None you could operate," Kalea warned him, "However, if...Power Girl were to accompany me while wearing a rebreather mask, we could search the interior."
"Why a rebreather?" Penny wondered.
"It converts carbon dioxide back into usable oxygen. An Argoan and I can survive on very little oxygen and we're immune to the cold. So we're the likeliest candidates," Kalea explained.
"Thank you for the mask," Penny handed it back to her.
"If I signal you and instruct you to leave us inside, do it without hesitating," Kalea told Penny.
"But Ah…" she began to protest.
"Just do it or we'll all die," Kalea revealed, "And I don't want that to happen."
"Good luck," Trevor wished her well.
Penny had taken over again for the docking maneuver. Galatea and Kalea explored the interior of the Hall of Doom. Emergency lighting was still on so they were able to make out directional signs and maps. Eventually they reached the control center. Panels were left open all across the compartment.
"This is going to be very bad," Kalea predicted, "And why is every wall lined with lead?"
"You've never met Lex Luthor, have you?" Power Girl asked.
"Is he worth meeting?" Kalea idly asked while searching the area.
"He certainly thinks so," Power Girl told her, "Rumor has it he cut the deal with the Techno-Organic Union to kidnap you and bring you to them."
Power Girl was amused as a wall panel crumpled underneath Kalea's fingers as she peered inside the cabinet, "Why do you speak perfect English?"
"I learned through post-hypnotic suggestion tapes. The subconscious absorbs information faster than the conscious mind. I actually speak forty-five languages. I recently taught myself to read and speak Kryptonian," Kalea shared.
"You have been to Argo," Power Girl fully realized, "What was it like?"
"Cold," Kalea replied succinctly.
"Kara never talks about it," Tea said sadly, "But she misses it every day."
"Coming from a civilization like that, even a dying one, makes Earth seem like Purgatory," Kalea found a cabinet with central planning dictating its location, "Aha!"
"You found Brainiac?" Power Girl was happy.
"No, I found where Brainiac's control node shard should be. Someone already removed it," Kalea said.
"Who?" Power Girl frowned.
"There's probably a nearly limitless list of suspects," Kalea complained.
"What would happen to you if you were returned to Argo?" Power Girl blurted out.
"I would fight predators every day to survive and for the limited prey that still exists," Kalea decided to be honest with her, "And that's if I didn't eventually freeze to death at night."
"There really isn't anyone else living there?" Power Girl asked.
"Six billion people live there," Kalea corrected her, "But there all corpses too frozen for the predators to eat."
"How did you keep from going insane?" Power Girl had to finally ask.
"I taught myself the language," Kalea told her, "After all, I had a civilization's library surrounding me. I could literally grow old and die without even scratching its surface."
"I hope they don't send you back there," Power Girl admitted.
"So do I," Kalea finally confessed.
Penny handled the flight back to the Hall of Justice. The JLers broke ranks. Plastic Man went off with Penny to retrieve their son and settle in for the evening. Artemis seemed to be having an animated conversation with Troia. Even Power Girl disappeared with Blackhawk. Black Adam and Isis had remained on Earth with Osiris in case of an emergency.
Kalea moved uncertainly through the corridors. And then she found herself intercepted by Katana and Black Bat. She recognized that they were both warriors as were Artemis and Troia.
"We need to discuss certain matters with you," Katana stated. And then the pair led Kalea to a meeting of a secret cabal. Kalea observed Owlwoman's intense pain. She knew what it felt like from personal experience.
"Well, I'm here," Kalea replied, "What did you want to discuss?"
Waller hauled Trevor into her office, "Dammit Steve! Thanks to your little stunt tensions between the Russians and the Chinese between the United States are at an unprecedented high that hasn't been seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis."
"Kalea tried to warn me of what would happen but I jumped the gun," Trevor owned up to his mistake.
"What you have done, Colonel Trevor, is push us to the very brink!" Waller snarled, "The entire world knows that the United States shot down the fighters. The fact that they were shooting at you is largely being ignored. No one realizes it was a JLA op and I've been denying it every time POTUS calls but an entire city…a city mind you…saw that shuttle leave this base and return. Eventually the media is going to figure it out. The Russians and the Chinese will demand a blood sacrifice and POTUS will order me to hand your ass over. Are we clear about that?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Trevor said crisply.
"Good, now get out there and save the goddamn world before it blows itself up like you're supposed to. Then the Russians and the Chinese can go screw each other and die because in the eyes of world opinion, you'll be untouchable," Waller instructed.
"Ma'am," Trevor saluted and exited her office.
Afterwards, the White House called her…again.