Now
The Volcano
"Good evening." Said Al-Sheikh, standing in the foreground of a room located deep within the opposition's bunker at the lowest sublevel. The room was vacant when they came; its floors and walls were lined with white square ceramic tiles. The ceiling was bare, revealing the plumbing running through the rafters and had only one a single light, casting ominous shadows on the eight present, Naif, Shaun, Sayid, O'Brien, Lucy, Mona, Priest, the unit who sat on metal folding chairs in two rows, as well as Kroenen who stood idly at the back, barely visible as his back form-fitting fighting suit blended with the dark corner.
"The six of you, seven if we could count Kroenen, are going to be a hand-picked elite unit that will be known from now on as the Minutemen. Your main objective will be performing high-priority missions with a high-risk of confronting the enemy. You will receive your orders from me though you will ultimately answer to the four captains as well. The nature of your mission will mostly involve sabotage, theft and investigation.
"Each one of you brings his or her own skills and experiences to the table, combat training, intelligence gathering and surveillance. I expect you all to use these skills wisely and without excess, as well as respect your teammates' abilities. I need you all to work as a team; some of you have previously shown signs of having problems with teamwork, if you are willing to allow that to persist then you may leave right now."
Mona glanced for a second at Priest's direction.
"Receiving my orders and instructions, it will be up to you to decide on the specifics, you will do so democratically. However, occasionally a situation my arise such that you are unable to discuss the best course of action, in that case one of you will have to assume the burdens of leadership. For that position I have chosen Miss Sax to be that person.
"There is something you all have to understand. Black Ops is the Devil's work. We will be using the same methods as our enemies to defeat them, murder, violence, larceny and deception. What I'm saying is that unlike the opposition's cells that you were previously parts of, you will be getting your hands dirty, and you have to be willing to get your hands dirty at any given minute.
"You might wonder; if we use such methods, then how are we any different from the League? There is no clear answer, I could claim that the ends justify the means, or that no one who will suffer our actions doesn't deserve it in some way, but the simple truth is that we must do what is necessary, The truth is that we are going up against an adversary that is pragmatic, single minded, diligent and believe in what it is doing, an enemy that will do anything to get what it wants, regardless of what innocent bystander gets hurt in the process…. Some of you know that very well. So to prevail we must match their ruthlessness, we must do heinous acts that we previously though unthinkable. You must perpetrate evil out of necessity, yet you must do it without relish… You must become the darkness, yet refuse it to be a part of you.
"I have been a spy and secret agent for decades, I have seen many men who were pinnacles of integrity try and fail, I've seen righteous men led astray and lose the path and become what they once fought. Righteous men... You are far from righteous. Which is not to say that I know you will fail, I hope you don't, but I have no reason to believe otherwise, either. So I ask you this, can you do what needs be done, but not be affected by it? Will you have a problem down the road? I hope you won't have a problem with that. If else, we will understand if you quit right now. In any event, your integrity will be tested soon enough. Right now, there are other dangers that could destroy this unit from the start.
"For this unit to succeed, there has to be an atmosphere of trust. I have not worked with any of you before, so I do not trust any of you or presume that any of you should trust me. With the exception of Miss Sax and Mister Priest, none of you have worked together before so I assume there is little trust among yourselves."
Naif took another drag of his cigarette.
"I know about you careers, I now the things you've done. I have read your flies and I'm afraid I trust you less for it… The only way for us to build trust is for you to tell me of what the files do not say. Tell me, why are you here in this room. Tell me why you aim to be the point men in the effort to topple the league, even though you are faced with a high probability of failure, the risk of a very certain, very painful, very slow, very fast approaching death or worse. Tell me your true motives; tell me what drives you, and let us begging to build that trust."
Gotham City, Maryland
"It's good to see you again, Nemo." Said Bruce Wayne as he stood in his parlor, while Captain Nemo was being escorted in by Alfred, Wayne's butler.
"Bruce, good to see you." Said Nemo as he embraced his old friend, slapping him between the shoulder blades.
"I read about what happened last week, your recent spar with the Joker. How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine. Yourself? Where the hell did you disappear to?"
"Oh, we'll talk about that." Said Nemo as he took a step back, glancing at Alfred.
"Where can we talk?"
"Here is as good as any." Said Wayne, "Whatever you want to say, you'll have to say it in front of Alfred. He knows everything there is to know, anyway."
"Bruce…"
"Besides, for this kind of work, you'll find that Alfred is more capable than I am."
"Oh?"
"Quite so, sir." Said Alfred, "MI-5, 1965 to 1971. The League even tried to recruit me, back when it was being run by Harry Lime."
"Yes, I remember Lime." Said Nemo, "Well, then. Let's talk shop."
The three sat down. For the next fifteen minutes, Nemo told them everything. He told them about the sting operation two months ago during which many of the opposition's operatives perished. He then told them about the new opposition, the new arrangements and the works. And finally, he told them all he knew about MacGuffin and Phoenix.
One Nemo was done, Alfred was in shock. Wayne frowned and seemed for a few moments to be deep in though.
"I would understand if you find all this to be hard to believe." Said Nemo.
"Not really. Three years ago when I first started a man tried to gas all of Gotham to save the world. He was part of a League too."
"If you continue to work with us, rest assured that your identities will be secure. Both of you will be known only to me. However, you have to decide if you want to continue to work with us, as I know you have enough responsibilities, with your businesses and your nocturnal activities. So, are you in?"
"You bet your ass we're in."
"Excellent." Said Nemo with a smile as he stood up.
"Will you be staying for dinner, Captain?"
"I'd love to, but I need to get back to base." Said Nemo as he headed for the door, "Oh, Bruce?"
"Yeah?" said Wayne.
"Do you know the Metropolis crime fighter?"
"Superman?" asked Wayne, "No, I've never met him."
"Ah, that's too bad."
"What?" asked Wayne with a chuckle, "Did you think we might have bumped into each other at the cape shop?"
"Goodbye, Bruce."
The Volcano
Thirty minutes later and the mood changed in the Minutemen's first meeting. The caution tension was replaced with a nervous silence. Many things were brought to light, highlighted by one or two minor shouting matches, a few sneering remarks and Priest basically braking down and confessing to something he'd kept hidden.
The group had taken a break, Sayid smoked one of Al-Sheikh's cigarettes outside with O'Brien, Lucy paced a distance away by herself, Mona was standing behind Priest, trying to soothe him, while Shaun sat in his place.
Ten minute later, everything had cooled down enough. They returned to their seats while Al-Sheikh lit a fresh cigarette.
"Alright. Now that the ice has been broken, we'll get to the bottom of why we're here.
"MacGuffin has given us a good idea of what Phoenix is. He has told us that it is a five year plan, beginning last year and ending four years from now, in 2012. What he didn't tell us are the specifics.
"Before MacGuffin was arrested by the League, he was trying to find us, which is why he was in Paris. His purpose was to give us the plans to project Phoenix so that we may avert it. He had obtained knowledge of the whereabouts of a loose copy of the plans.
Al-Sheikh pressed a button on a remote in the palm of his hand, and an image was cast on the wall next to him, depicting a building in a metropolitan area.
"This is the First National Bank of Metropolis." Said Al-Sheikh, "The plans are located in a safety deposit box here. We need to get it, only we can't. Any safety deposit box has two keys, one with the customer and one with the manager. To open a box we need the customer key and to be listen on the signatory card. We have the customer key but the signatory card is a problem. The only way is to coerce the manager into helping us."
"Excuse me…" said Priest, his sense of melancholy evaporating, "But is the First National Bank of Metropolis located in Metropolis, Delaware by any chance?"
"Naturally."
"Right. It can't be done." Said Priest, "If you're talking about robbing the damn bank, you can just forget about it right now."
"What?" said Lucy, "I don't understand."
"Mister Priest is referring to an individual who is a resident of Metropolis, they call him the Super-Man. He is endowed with great powers that he uses to fight crime." Said Al-Sheikh, "Since he firs arrived in Metropolis, there has not been a single successful bank robbery."
"What? He's real?" asked Shaun, "I thought he was just a myth like the Loch Ness Monster."
"Nah. Superman's real." Said O'Brien, "Batman is the urban legend."
"Batman's real too." Mona said.
"No kidding?"
"Yeah. Wait." Mona said, "We don't have to rob the bank. Why don't we just bribe the manager into letting us in?"
"The manager isn't the sort of person to be bribed. We've checked."
"We can take him in at night, make him get into the bank after hours to help us."
"That would be a good idea, as the Super-Man's activities decrease after nighttime. However, the bank has a round the clock security team. If this was a smaller bank we would have done so."
"If bribing doesn't work, what about blackmail?" asked Mona, "Or is the manager a boy scout?"
"Getting leverage will take time we don't have." Said Al-Sheikh, exhaling a cloud of smoke, "I've calculated all angles; this is the only way. The Red October will take us tomorrow. Don't worry, a plan has already been made. I'll fill you in tomorrow. Meeting adjourned."
R&R.
Next Chapter: The Minutemen versus Superman. It is as simple as that. Featuring Eel O'Brien's confession.