"Leading inventor and industrialist Ted Kord of Kord Industries is expected to attend the International Technologies Summit being held this year in Montenegro. Other expected high profile personalities include the Lexcorp duo CEO Mercy Graves and CFO Maxwell Lord."
What's Blue Beetle doing attending that charade? Of course nobody thinks that a meeting like that is meant to be anything more than a corporate summit. It means the Illuminati is on the move, but then I have thought their hand to be in other things lately including the murder attempts that I got caught in.
"CEO Bruce Wayne is also on the guest list as well as the recently engaged philanthropist Oliver Queen. There is much chatter about who if any women will be with Wayne on this occasion and there is a fair amount of curiosity about Queen's fiancée."
Somebody shot at you and her last month. Now you are going halfway across the world for a summit, somebody other than Batman is going to have to watch your back on this one. I wouldn't be surprised if the woman going with Bruce isn't Diana. Diana isn't exactly pro-technology anyway.
It had been a perilous time between the murder attempts and Helena in the Huntress guise being subject to Scarecrow's newest fear gas experiment. He did not confine to testing on costumes as he had gotten to her, to Montoya, to Catwoman, and to the villainess Tsukuri. It is more of a mystery why he went after Tsukuri, but then the super villains almost completely stopped working together after the last run in with Darkseid.
"Please don't tell me you got some strange idea to 'visit' Queen during this summit. I have had enough travel for now. Whenever they have the wedding, I'll be up to traveling then, but not right now. So just come back to bed please," murmurs Helena.
I would have broken more than his fingers for what he did to her, but then it would make me less me. I went in front of the KGBeast's gun as he shot at her in order to keep her from being hit. Some part of me knows I would be as much a wreck as her emotionally or psychologically right now if our positions were reversed. Stitches the bullet holes are gone, but there is a lingering sensation of where I was shot.
Vic switches off the television and returns to bed where she is half awake. She had put on one his dark yellow button down shirts. It did look good on her to him, but somehow there are other reasons for her wearing it unless he is assigning further meaning to something that is merely her liking his shirt.
After he lies down, she moves herself atop him and starts kissing him in an almost hungry way. Her body had its way of telling his that she misses his warmth among other things right now. He kisses her neck as his fingertips run down her back. She sighs and he unbuttons the shirt on her and she smiles at him mischievously.
She had been around for some of his nightmares after the Cadmus torture and he felt a lasting compulsion to stay with her as much as possible, whether at her place or his. Lately she had been coming to his more frequently than he going to hers. She is the first other than him to sleep on this bed so he made some effort to make it more comfortable. Recent events left him feeling guilt akin to what he felt after she got him out of Cadmus last year.
He buries it for now because his attention belongs on her yet there is often memory intrusion.
I can usually bring answers to everyone's problems or queries, but me, no I am usually a master at making my own problems or queries lead to further of the same kind.
She kisses him on the lips. Her tongue goes into his mouth and starts playing with his. He goes flow with flow as if following her intensity with his own. There are things one always does alone and there are things one always does together, this is more of the latter. These moments are their refuge or so he had come to believe to be the case. Another one of those lovers' type holidays is not far off and for the first time he actually had someone to consider whether she would want to celebrate it or not, but some part of him tells she might though not in a way he could predict at all.
She had become unpredictable in ways he could not anticipate, but it did not bother him as much as it might have last year. Love as he grasps is still very much an enigma albeit it takes an irresistible and undeniable feminine figure in his mind. They would both be very sore later, but they would both feel quite high if his previous experiences in bed with her were anything to go on. He usually never left the bed after they were done because they usually never did reach done as it had taken much out of both them between foreplay and the act itself.
Together they get lost inside each other and in each other's arms. It is a true notion of how they slept together and not an effort to romanticize having sex to his mind. There are many ways to heal bodies, but healing if at all possible for minds takes much more creativity.
Hours later she is asleep in his arms and he had briefly gotten out of bed to check locks before sliding back into place after giving her a spare pillow to hold just so she get the impression of him still there. It took some tickling to loosen her grip on him earlier and again when trying to take his place back from a pillow of all things. She noisily giggled in her sleep, which did relieve him as opposed to hearing her cries, yells, sobs, and a range of other pained sounds she had made almost every time she slept since the gas exposure.
He let sleep claim him too after awhile longer. His own nightmares had not completely subsided after all this time either, but he had in part that sadistic Dr. Moon to 'thank' for those occurrences. He can vaguely remember Superman knocking or kicking down the massive door to the interrogation chamber, but he had lost all sense of time after his encounter with Luthor before Brainiac fully reveals how Luthor had become almost metahuman.
He awoke to find her not in bed. He can hear the water running from the bathroom. He jiggles the knob, it is unresponsive, and he pulls out a compact screwdriver with a worry in mind that she might have locked the door on purpose. There is no way to be sure if he is being too paranoid or if she just wants privacy while showering. He taps on the door.
"You in the shower?" asks Vic.
"Yes, I'll be out soon," answers Helena.
"Just checking," replies Vic.
"You want join me?" teases Helena.
"Been awhile since we did that one," reminds Vic.
He puts away the screwdriver upon hearing both her foot falls and water pattering against the tiles of the bathroom. His bathroom in contrast with hers only is just barely enough for two people. The door opens and she just stands there almost grinning at him. There's something of a shine to her even with her dripping wet as it reminds him of her perspiring during sex, either way she is so alive to him.
"Now that looks like an answer to me," giggles Helena.
He walks towards and takes her into his arms before they go back towards the shower stall. Nothing quite the same as getting caught together in the rain or in this moment sharing a shower together. He decides to be tender yet careful. There is no need to rush, no world at stake, he resists the nudge to think the word yet among other words. The realization of need brings with it the fear of loss. Until he had found himself caught up in her presence need used to only apply to his modus operandi and the loss only meant loss of sleep over his work, but in having her in his life, in his arms did change everything. Everything for him at any rate though of course the full realization of it had come when Luthor had beat the snot out of him though at the time he did not know Luthor was being augmented by a copy of Brainiac that had been in for years.
Luthor's motives had been typical of him despite the almost convincing charade he put on until he had given the reveal to Question went to kill him. The rest after that had been a tormenting experience as every emotion he had not really felt so acutely was given such a magnification that he could hope to withstand the strain indefinitely, eventually they could break him, but somehow he held out. He would not consider what might have happen if she did fail in her attempt to get him out. He at times felt wrong for putting her in that position, but the irrationality of love is not quite as irrational as it sounds because he had shyly told her his intentions for helping her to pursue Mandragora.
He had not been expecting her to kiss him. It wouldn't be the last time she would surprise him either.
Once in Cadmus' custody his focus had become entirely mental and so he had to rely on his own training to weather Moon's attempts to break him. The electric shocks, the neural stimulation, the verbal taunting, and other things that could be seen as demeaning physically, but that had been part of why he broke fingers or wrists of certain villains as of late. It had been a reminder that they were best aware not to mess with him or those closest to him ever again. He is not violent by nature, but he had not forgotten what they did to him or to her.
Helena is kissing his shoulders and running her nails softly against his back.
In between sessions with Moon and certain members of Task Force X, during the week he had kept trying to remember less, he had gotten visits from Atom. At first Atom said nothing, he just seem to stand there as if merely observing him. The second time he couldn't tell what Atom was holding in his palm, but it did look like an earpiece comlink. It might have been his or might have been Atom's though more likely it could be his though in order for them to prevent the League from finding either of them this facility had to have comlink shielding and probably even lead shielding to counter X-Ray vision.
"I am ordered to dispose of this. I was ordered to bring you here. I am ordered to keep you here. I don't even know why I am telling you this as you are barely conscious anyway. When I decided to follow orders again I didn't think it meant this, but the last time I followed orders I became Captain Atom."
He left the vicinity of Question's cell. Atom didn't reappear until the next time he was taken to a session with Dr. Moon. He was always made the handler to and from Moon's 'lab'. The lab was not a really a lab. It was more like a torture chamber with every device, mechanism, and tool imaginable to conduct interrogation with very little interaction with the 'subject'. Atom often just stood there for a few seconds after bring Question there and heard the usual one sided banter from Moon as he hooked up all the wires. Question could see the reluctance in Atom's expression, but of course he stood there the first few times without betraying a reaction. Each time it took more and more for Atom to resist killing Moon or at least Question thought this given the way he would cross his arms, look away, or stay longer.
Each time on the way back to the cell, they pass by so many self-same looking Cadmus Security personnel. Each drop off for the cell had become wearier as Question's body is crossing thresholds that have really been put over humans.
"The point of these interrogations is lost on me. I was told you stole vast amounts of highly classified data from Cadmus, but all you did in response to whatever you found was try to kill Luthor. However from my perspective it looked like he could have killed you in that office despite his claims to the contrary."
Vic can hear her panting as they are doing it in the shower again. The water is pouring down on both of them. Her hair is soaking wet yet she rarely looks this tantalizing to him. The insanity of the world isn't theirs, but separately whatever made people view them as insane seem to disappear when they were together. He remembers bragging that she was drawn to his eccentric charm.
Another of Captain Atom's one sided conversations splinters through his effort to block it out.
"Why not just tell them what they want to know? It could end this sooner than it would if you tell them nothing. Surely you want this to end don't you Question?"
He couldn't tell them anything because then he would be broken and they would have done it where so much else had not done it. It is the principle of resistance, the momentum of perseverance, but most of all compromise would compound, maybe even complete the failure of what he had tried to do in the belief that it would prevent Armageddon. Moon didn't give a damn what it would take to crack him and eventually Cadmus hierarchy would pressure Moon for results if they had not already.
The nightmares that the torture give him only worsen with each exposure to Moon's latest technique, which is repeatedly shows him what happens if the League went rogue like the Lords. He awakens or thinks he is awakening in the cell. Atom is here for him, but this time some part of him seeks to resist being taken for another dose of Moon's machine. Question can hear muffled voices out in the corridor. One sounds distinctly like Luthor, another sounds more gruff probably Eiling, and the third sounds lower yet on the feminine side likely to be Waller.
"His resistance is strange given his almost stoic compliance with previous sessions," comments Waller.
"Perhaps he needs a reminder of why he is wrong to challenge authority," suggest Luthor.
"Captain, subdue by whatever means necessary and take the prisoner to Moon," orders Eiling.
Atom advances towards Question, he is being slow even for him, but Question sees why now.
"You did report he has told nothing except babble nonsense so far," reminds Luthor.
Atom attempts to grab Question with his bare hands, but Question backs toward the far wall.
"Time is of essence, we need to know what he found out, Captain," demands Waller.
"If you have to blast him, I recommend that you do it now," barks Eiling.
Question braced for the blast yet when it had come it did not hurt as much as he thought it would, but then it was preferable to the electric shocks that come with Moon's machine that made him see exactly what he was afraid even though nobody else saw it. He would experience his nightmares alone from the start, but she would save him from it, he held onto that despite the anguish of having put her in that position pressing against him at times.
It didn't matter that the shower left both soaked to the bone and it feels like the sex had given even him a voracious appetite. She uses a combination of what she brought with her in conjunction with what she found in his kitchen. He didn't need a gourmet meal, but it is what she made it all the same. It took much energy out of both of us he thought as he almost gobbles up everything short of the crumbs. She covers her mouth as she is practically snickering at him, but he did not mind that, he is always short of trying to make her laugh after what happen with the fear gas.
First his cell phone went off, and then hers went off, which is like an anomaly turning into a trend.
"Hey Vic, I guess you heard I am going to that summit in Montenegro…" says Oliver.
"It was on the news earlier Oliver… saw Bruce is going too…" answers Vic.
"Yep I also saw Ted Kord on the list too. He is an unexpected name…" continues Oliver.
"If you are expecting me to join this unofficial costume jaunt… I must decline…"
"Sounds rather unlike you… I was practically expecting a call from you or you turning up with Huntress."
"I am declining for something other than professional interest in the summit."
"I understand you two have been through things that neither Dinah nor I have been through aside from being shot at last month."
"I would think you would be ducking public appearances with that count."
"I have, but even though I don't officially run my parents' company anymore, they still have me be their poster boy from time to time."
"Right can't afford to have an image slip. Bad PR, though I'd expect that more from Bruce than you."
"I also thought you and Helena could use a real vacation away from our usual haunts."
"Helena had been insistent that we just stay put in Hub City."
"Like I said, I get why you and her wouldn't want to travel especially with recent events."
"So why press the suggestion twice in a single phone call?"
"Call it an offer from a friend. Stay or go, it's a call for you and her to make. We leave in two days."
Helena walks into a different part of the apartment wearing one of his yellow shirts like before.
"Hi Helena, how you feeling?" asks Dinah.
"Better than usual if you know what I mean," admits Helena.
"He's quite the animal in bed huh?" implies Dinah.
"I wouldn't brag, but he is creative to say the least."
"Keeps it hot, heavy, and surprising I bet."
"I doubt you are calling about just that."
"Can't a friend just call a friend?"
"Sorry to sound so suspicious, I just want to get away from this look a lot more than usual."
"Crane put you through your own hell."
"All my senses had given me these impressions that the whole thing had been real. Nothing out of place at least until I began noticing certain things not like where I left them like the car or my bike."
"I heard Vic broke some fingers after he got you back to the surface."
"When he had left Lawton with broken wrists around the same time that transducer blew up his car. We had our first lip to lip kiss in that car. Not that I am sentimental about anything, but I swear being in love alters perspective."
"It certainly does that, it did for me, of course I did almost hit Ollie over the head with my helmet the night I was chasing you and Vic during that business with Mandragora."
"Guess I am not the only one who attests to some personal attachment to vehicles. Sorry your bike got wasted on that one. Vic beat the train and you two could have ended up crushed if Oliver didn't call for a teleport."
"I know he did the right thing, I was just flustered, but I had fun building a new one plus I found your design to be quite a feat of engineering itself. Guess you used its tracking system to follow me to Roulette's place."
"You were quite run down and the bike engine did cover my firing the tracer as well as its activation. After that I tailed you back to your place. You literally passed out once you got inside, didn't even bother with the lights, but before I knew you were up and following the call to Metabrawl."
"I am going with Ollie to Montenegro. I know you and probably Vic don't want to be traveling right now, but maybe getting away from Gotham and Bludhaven will be good for you, change of scenery."
"I could tell Vic's curiosity was active when he saw the broadcast announcing the summit. I told him to forget about thinking of going, but of course, the idea of vacation, a real vacation is appealing."
"The flight departure is in two days. I hear Montenegro is quite lovely this time of year."
Both calls end almost simultaneously.
"You think we both got almost duped into going with them?" cracks Vic.
"They can be very persuasive, but I guess they had a mutual point," jests Helena.
"Vacation… I don't think I have ever taken one at least not all recently."
"We had our holidays, but now I think a vacation is in order… excuse to go shopping for sure."
"I had a feeling you would say that…"
"I had a feeling you would say that too…"
They kiss before moving onto dessert, which consists of several different kinds of chocolate. She apparently made a point of introducing him to a wider palate than he was used to eating in general.
[+++]
The flight two days later is uneventful, but he didn't mind that. Sleeping on the plane proves more of a challenge as he rarely flies anywhere. He wouldn't bother laughing when somebody said didn't he hear that flying is statistically safer. The statistics on every mode of travel are proof of risk, which is higher depends on more than statistics. He often had the gut feeling that certain methods have accidents that are not really accidents from time to time. Some accidents are because of design arrogance and not the experience of its crew or the readiness of its passengers. He could list dozens of historical incidents where design arrogance had a hand to play in countless so called accidents though everyone pays almost the most attention to the Titanic incident.
There are other lesser mentioned vessels and many were lost without people in general knowing anything about them. The Philadelphia Project is another culturally popular conspiracy though often nods are made to it in other mediums despite the history of denials that such an experiment was ever done. The conspiracy oriented X-Files even did an episode on it and how exactly Vic knows about this is a point of interest as rarely does anyone attempt to gaze into the mentality of someone who believes in conspiracy.
He seriously hopes no one bothers to make some corny analogy between him and Fox Mulder, but it is bound to happen, whether they said to him directly or not. The actors that portrayed Mulder and Scully actually held the opposite beliefs to their on-screen characters, which did strike him as curious. However actors are often portraying characters that bear passing resemblance or almost no resemblance to themselves. It is a form of escapism that a few admit to indulging and for others it is an art form.
The memories of the interrogations intrude on him as he slept during intermittently during the flight.
The visuals usually did involve Luthor being sworn in as President of the United States on the steps of Capitol Hill. Random blurs for the beginnings of an interplanetary war between governments and their resident costume heroes. Heroes are being slain in every manner imaginable including Flash being shot in the forehead at close range on the White House front lawn by President Luthor. Flash is usually held down by soldiers. He looks beaten up, worn out, and he has not strength or energy to speed away. He is cut down by a single gunshot. It starts anew with Superman vaporizing the Oval Office for starters including Luthor.
The war spreads like wildfire throughout the world. Armageddon in every sense of the word and often he is shown as someone who survives to witness a world in flames. He is shown head stones of familiar costume names though the most heart wrenching of is hers. It is usually hers above all the others dying that causes him to howl in pain and remorse even when some part of him knows this is just another apocalyptic simulation being sent to his brain by Moon.
However these onslaught of images are worse than fully imaginable tangents because his brain is under the sway of something manipulating what is mind is receiving and driving him ever closer to dementia. If he had the strength he would force Moon to into being on the receiving end of his machine.
"This doesn't have to continue. I can stop you from seeing these images at any time."
The surges end for the moment. Moon grips his jawbone and looks at him from behind dark glasses.
"You stole files from our computer. Just tell me what you have learned."
"Topically applied fluoride doesn't prevent tooth decay! It does render teeth detectable by spy satellite!"
The electric discharge surges through him again trigger yet another convulsion just like all the others before it. He had not grown immune to it. He just kept focusing on not so random information in his brain so by pushing himself mentally he had been able to stave off the side effects of the shocks until he left this chamber of horrors as they might call it later.
"Tell me what you know."
"The plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister!"
Another jolt of discharges and surges only precede more screams as his nerves go on fire again. It stops again. Moon repeats himself again demanding Question tells him what he knows from the files.
"There was a magic bullet. It was forged by Illuminati mystics to prevent us from learning the truth!"
"Have it your way. This will continue until I break you…"
The discharges and surges resume again as Moon turns the dial gain upwards further than before.
"… Maybe even afterward," sneers Moon.
His screams only got louder. Nobody appears to give a damn that a man is being tortured because he had been trying to prevent the destruction of his world and the death of the only woman that means everything to him now. His eyes felt like they stung though not from the shocks, maybe tears.
He awoke abruptly as the private plane being used to fly them over to England descends into a rain storm over the destination city.
He couldn't work out why he is remembering the Cadmus captivity again. It might be due to his irregular efforts to repress the memories or maybe it had to do with what happen as a result of Helena being a prisoner of Scarecrow. He had known before his transfer to the Cadmus New Mexico facility that Atom had misgivings about his current deployment, but Atom retains a respect for chain of command so he was unlikely to break the rules directly.
However nobody else did appear in his eyes to have issues with what they were doing especially to him.
Nobody except Captain Atom, but of course duty bound the captain keeps watch on this particular sublevel because he had been expecting someone to come for Question. He would follow his orders, but that more and more this operation begins to bother him perhaps. Each time Atom saw him, he looked like he was a man waiting to die and what they were putting him through in some ways was by repetition more painful than the metamorphosis from Adams to Atom.
Vic had not seen the two of them together much since Lawton's attempt to kill them, but they did appear to be starting over. However there is no way of knowing what if anything will happen between them.
The blackouts after the sessions with Moon only got worse to the point that he lost all sense of time. He didn't remembering being taken back to his cell. He had suspicions why they left his mask even though they probably knew how to remove it. It was a further torment because he never wore the mask for long spans. He usually never slept with it on unless the work kept him up to the point of exhaustion, but the whole time down there, he would alternate between erratic intervals of consciousness and unconsciousness. There was never any sleep or dreams. There were only the sessions or the nightmares.
"I don't expect you to forgive me if either of us survives this conflict. They expect me to take you back to Moon while Superman and Huntress are going up against the surface forces. There's a battle being fought and they want me to keep playing jailer. I follow orders, it is what I do, but what does it cost?"
It is a long walk to the interrogation chambers and Atom continues to talk in whispers.
"I don't have anything left in this world to lose except what I believe," confesses Atom.
"War is coming. We both still have something to be lost to us," groans Question.
"After all this, she wouldn't want me back in her life."
"Then the world is over for you unless it isn't."
"Is that why you resist Moon's interrogations?"
The silence is an answer, but Question felt a lack of physical strength after pushing to just sparsely converse with Atom. Atom would have a crossroads of his own to face when they got down here. Question understood why she had taken such life threatening risks because love lacks the definition meaning of rational. Her love for him had given her something that she perhaps thought lost to her since her parents' murder and what motivates her to some extent is the fear of losing him. This is the source of a lingering anguish to be the one that breaks her heart.
Nothing could stop her from getting to this room short of her own death.
He is back on the table after that unexpected chat with Atom.
The rest beyond that conversation is a blur right up to the moment that Huntress hit Moon square across the face and sent him flying away across his chamber of horrors. Superman broke the restraints holding him vertical and Huntress returns to him after backing away from killing Moon. Undoubtedly there were countless others she had probably come close to killing the whole way down to his position. Neither he nor she would speak of the situation that much, but both of them as he thought would be carrying the experience with them forever just as she would have the one from Scarecrow's experiment.
[+++]
The six that took Wayne's private jet and the train that traverses the Channel Tunnel are now aboard the Adriatic Express. The train would take them the rest of the way to Montenegro. The landscapes were something to behold because he never seen this part of the world or at least if he had any memories of such places he could not recall them. As one gets older certain times lose cohesion and others become more specific. Memory is written in pencil his mother used to joke to him, but she had a point after all this time.
"Beautiful countryside isn't it babydoll?" says Helena.
"Hmm?" murmurs Vic.
"Nice to see you absorbed with something like that."
"You don't see much just flow with the land back home."
"No, much just goes out, then up, and carves through the land."
"It is not without charm, but why does a fascination with travel continue?"
"It is to get away from the familiar or a penchant for the exotic?"
"The unfamiliar is outside, but the exotic belongs to someone else."
She smiles at him knowingly and plants a long one on him for that indirect compliment.
"It looks like you two skipped straight to dessert again didn't you?" snickers Dinah.
"We are heading away from Calais, but this is still France for a little longer," reminds Oliver.
Helena has a faint blush and Vic shows some flush in his cheeks.
"Bruce is still in his cabin with her," remarks Dinah.
"Better that Diana doesn't know he is here with you-know-who," comments Oliver.
"You really think Diana would be jealous of her?" suggests Helena.
"Yes, but she wouldn't say it, she is too…" says Dinah.
"I believe the phrase you are looking for is stuck-up," interjects Vic.
Helena smacks Vic's arm for saying that particular turn of a phrase.
"Who said that about her anyway?" queries Dinah.
"Mike Maxwell," answers Vic.
"Wasn't he put on a mission when she was turned into…" continues Helena.
"Yep that's the one," snorts Oliver.
Dinah gently hits Oliver against the back of head.
"Zatanna told me something rather juicy about the whole thing," confesses Dinah.
"Something embarrassing about Batman probably," guesses Helena.
"You heard about this before?" queries Dinah.
"It just fits the people involved… but do go on," insists Helena.
"He had to sing in order for Circe to lift the spell," answers Dinah.
Both women crack up laughing for a few minutes.
Vic didn't bother mentioning he had known about before they did because he heard about it the same time that Zatanna told Diana about it, but of course Diana had heard the song a few times that she went to Iceberg Lounge on her own. She probably heard the song even before Zatanna told her that Bruce had sung it to convince Circe to lift the spell. It is imaginable that she might have made some sort of gesture to indicate to Batman that she heard the song before. It would be very much like her if Vic could really claim to grasp the ways that a woman teases a man without dressing a certain way or taking her clothes off.
Bruce and his traveling companion pass the four of them. This new woman in Bruce's life is someone that none of the others have had some manner of contact with other the years. A woman named Vesper Fairchild and her motives for being close to Wayne appear to be oriented by her profession as a reporter who doubles as a radio personality. She had been in and out of his life almost as frequently as Selina Kyle. At first the rumor is that he brought Kyle along for this trip, but once the four saw Vesper they had known who 'won' out as his 'cover' companion. Nobody wants to guess what Diana will think when hears about this, but more likely her reaction would be stronger if he had gone with Selina Kyle.
"One has to wonder if Vesper knows about his night life," says Dinah.
"Plenty of other women who have and have not slept with him know," remarks Helena.
"The ratio of women to men who know this secret is kind of funny too," continues Oliver.
"Why does that seem funny or even surprising in the slightest to you Oliver?" jests Vic.
Oliver shrugs and the waitress brings their dinners.
Ted Kord arrives in the company of a woman, but she apparently is not this trip in a romantic capacity at least that's what her posture suggests to Vic.
First Vesper and now Sasha… how many women that have fallen hard for Bruce or Batman are going to turn up on this trip?
Vic turns his hands' attention to eating despite his suspicions about Vesper and Sasha on this trip.
She could be here as security for Kord. No way to know unless I ask Bruce or Ted, but either way she'll tip her hand on her own so let her do that instead of asking as if I were suddenly back to full time paranoia.
The remainder of the transit is uneventful aside from a few new variables in the situation. There is an invitation from an attaché named Josephine Tautin to have lunch with her. The invite lists Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance, and their 'assistants'. Vic and Helena were alleged the only ones to know this part of the cover story. They decide to play along to see what the deal is with this attaché. The hotel's equivalent of a taxi service drops them off at Tautin's chosen outdoor restaurant in Montenegro.
They tell the maître d who is expecting them for lunch and a waiter takes them to Tautin's table. Each makes a light order since the meeting should be brief because not even Vic had been expecting to encounter someone from the government when only business is expected to be mixing at this summit. However he remembers Hardcastle's last confession about the ties between business and government being a lot closer than is generally known by the world's population.
"Let's just say an old friend told me to be on the lookout for your 'entourage' given the recent events. His government won't venture officially looking like they were playing favorites again even though they trust your 'associates' more than they trust their own 'partners' for the moment," says Tautin.
"You care to divulge who this mutual old friend is or is this going to be one of those need to know situations like your 'company' is famously known for being from time to time," remarks Oliver.
"You all have all met him in the past, but that's all I am allowed to tell you about him. The rest what I am telling you pertains to another familiar face to your 'associates'. He got here the earliest of all the people on the list for the summit and I don't think you need a name for that one," continues Tautin.
"You couldn't expect anything less from him and I bet he didn't come alone at his arrival at the hotel did he?" probes Vic.
"No, he is here with her just as expected, but they can run things no matter where they are in the world. Our old friend however expresses concerns that so many of your 'associates' are present for this event, but he understands the necessity behind certain ones being here."
"So he worries about the unexpected travelers does he?"
"Correct as usual for you. Almost nothing gets pass you."
Vic shows no sign of satisfaction in being right besides the other rumors that were still going around about someone else this woman is likely about to tell them about without naming as per code.
"One further thing before I go. There is another unconfirmed yet known rival entity active again."
"Who are you referring to now?" asks Dinah.
"Your assistants will know who I mean. I'll be seeing you and be mindful aside from this being a lovely tourist spot, there are things to be careful of aside from I have told you. Thanks for the lunch."
The ride back to the hotel is a silent one. It is much for them to let sink in especially for Helena.
"So could you work out what she was talking about back there?" queries Dinah.
"The old friend is King Faraday. The entourage refers to the known six costumes present in Montenegro. It also refers to Vesper and Sasha. Sasha Bordeaux is the woman traveling with Ted Kord. She also made note that Lord and Graves got here before us, which is not surprising to me," answers Vic.
It didn't take much guessing for any of them to work out who the rival is that Tautin spoke of before departing the restaurant. It is the one individual that especially Helena thought she could put almost completely out of mind by now except nothing is ever over as Question already had held as a precept.
Time is relative to the observer for past, present, and future is filters to assign some notions of separations between memories except for some the separation does not exist because some contend it's a coping mechanism for those who do not experience tangents. Vic is one of those people, but he had known that for years. The ability is not supernatural or superhuman because some experience their memories in ways far more sharp ways than almost everyone else.
"The rival is Steven Mandragora. There were rumors circulating that someone was trying to spring him from prison, but most times it turned out to be false or foiled in the case of Deadshot. However Deadshot's most recent arrest had kept that from happening, but someone broke him out."
"They have any idea how did finally manage to pull that feat off?" demands Helena.
"I'll have to run searches to find out, but someone clearly had used unconventional means."
"The fact remains that we are now almost on what you could call his home turf or what he would call the old country," sighs Helena.
"So I guess we should expect him to turn up eventually," resigns Oliver.
"I wish he would stay away I have had enough of him for one lifetime," hisses Helena.
Vic closes his laptop after searching covertly into the prison where Mandragora had been since the trial.
"There are repeated loops in the records on several occasions so somebody was obviously meeting with him, but they didn't want their presence known. It'll take time to recover the real footage if it is still intact. It is clear however that they did not take him through any listed entry/exit," remarks Vic.
"Unless somebody is using a teleporter I don't see how someone could get him out," continues Dinah.
"Maybe Fate, Zatanna, or Jason should examine the scene for clues," suggests Oliver.
"You are thinking that it was a supernatural breakout?" remarks Helena.
"We can't eliminate any possibility and so far too many familiar faces have been turning up."
The four enter the hotel and go straight for the front desk where Oliver asks for their rooms.
"At least this place doesn't have elevator music," jests Dinah.
"These kinds of hotels are not known for that," comments Helena.
"You and I are going shopping. I saw they have a few stores so why not check it out?" offers Dinah.
"I am definitely not just gonna sit around and dwell about Mandragora coming after me."
"Now that's the spirit, but first check out the rooms."
"Definitely prefer a real bed to the ones they had on the train."
Vic and Oliver trade looks as if knowing they could be almost like sisters.
The rooms are luxurious to say the least about them.
"We have separate rooms, but there is a connecting door," says Oliver
"We should get a bed like this at home Ollie," implores Dinah.
"That comfortable?" chuckles Oliver.
On the other side of the connecting door, Vic and Helena are halfway undressed before ending up in an equally comfortable bed.
"So much for trying to take a vacation," murmurs Helena.
"It can still be that," whispers Vic.
"What makes you so sure?" asks Helena.
"Just remember our first night together," answers Vic.
She kisses him deeply and undoes his tie. He pulls out the barrette in her hair ever so slowly. She indulges his slowness because it makes their intimate moments last longer. He inhales her perfume knowing that both of them wanted to put aside this afternoon's news from back home.
She falls asleep halfway through the afternoon. As for Vic, he took some time to sleep too.
A/N 1: The fact they are going to Montenegro is a nod to my favorite James Bond movie, the 2006 Casino Royale. Several notable company personalities are attending a summit there. Josephine Tautin fills a role similar to Rene Mathis from Royale and she knows King Faraday. I got the idea from the fact both were involved with Checkmate in the comics.
A/N 2: Enter Ted Kord aka Blue Beetle. He appears in the JLU comics. Likewise his comics counterpart is an inventor and owner of Kord Industries. His 'companion' is Sasha Bordeaux yet another woman from the comics who had romantic ties to Bruce Wayne.
A/N 3: Bruce's 'cover' companion Vesper Fairchild is also a love interest for Bruce in the comics.
A/N 4: Vic is still experiencing the lingering effects of what happen to him during his time in Cadmus custody. I originally had this in mind as a chapter by itself, but somehow it weaves along with this one.
