Joe Martin pays a visit to Ted Grant's grave. He believes is not seen doing this. Martin is wrong, but of course the burial was put off because of the weather. It was one of the snowiest winters in memory for Question aside from spending Christmas at Wayne Manor and New Years in the Metro Tower Infirmary. The vacation in Montenegro quickly led back to the conspiracy that is still closing in around them especially if the recent events in Gotham said anything for it. As for who specifically is behind it, Question suspects Maxwell Lord, now known Illuminati member except other Illuminati members he met in Montenegro insist Lord is a renegade.
Joe Martin is the Atomic Skull. He fought Wildcat in Roulette's Metabrawl. One wonders how he learned of Wildcat's secret identity. It piques Question's curiosity and so he would follow Martin in order to answer that curiosity. Grant had no close friends and enemies starting with the criminal underworld then branching out into the super criminal variety. However none seem to have an awareness of Ted Grant being the man behind Wildcat.
He had students, protégés, and flings. The women had all seen Ted without the mask. Question had seen pictures of Ted and heard his voice yet the image that clicks into place when he often comes to irregularly thinking of Ted Grant, is the look on his dead face. The man had the look of knowing he would die yet he still made some effort to fight it off. Grant had finally given the appearance of throwing away his misgivings about his role in the League yet something happen, that something led to his death.
Question believes Joe Martin has an answer for this. Of all the former Legion members, Atomic Skull was the least active, as if suggestive that he might have been trying to make a break from a life of crime, but few criminals and villains ever truly accomplish this feat. Several in Arkham are prime examples of this revert tendency. Of course, not all go to Arkham for that in itself requires proof of criminal insanity and many of its revolving door regulars fit that characterization, some more than others. Words can be so imprecise even looking to distinguish sane from insane.
Martin keys the door to the brownstone where he had been living after fading below the radar in the wake of the fourth Apokolipitian Incursion. He carries a light grocery shopping load and wears what looks like janitor work clothes. His attire validates the probability that he no longer pursues criminal activities, but then no way to be sure. It is not that Question had come expect the worst especially from criminals and super villains yet so far most of the attacks, successful or not, were being carried out by costumed super villains.
Question enters Martin's apartment by means of the fire escape window access and shuts it once he is inside. It would rank as careless to leave a window unlocked no matter the circumstances, but then paranoia often brings about the best or the worst in anyone. Martin had no reason to expect anyone to be after him. The apartment door creaks open after Martin keys it and once through the doorway Martin kicks it back into place by pushing it hard with the heel of his boot. He enters the kitchen and then Question flips the light switch.
Martin drops the bag on the table then turns around with his fists in the air.
"Relax Martin, I am not here for whatever reason you think I am," says Question.
"I am not doing crime stuff anymore. I wish your kind would stop messing with me," snaps Martin.
"What do you mean by that?" asks Question.
"I thought your clubhouse was so tight that you know what I mean."
"Then explain it for me if you care to do so."
"I want you out of my place before I call the police about a trespasser!"
"Why were you visiting Ted Grant's grave?"
"I fought him a few times in Metabrawl almost two years ago, so what?"
"There's more to it than that so keep telling."
"I said enough already… you work out the rest."
"You saw him before he died didn't you?"
"Heh, he broke into my place the same as you did except with less finesse, like he had never done it before, but of course I heard him."
Martin lowers his fists and sits down in a chair. His breathing is heavier than one would expect for someone who used to fight quite frequently for an income. He pulls out of a capsule case from his jacket and takes some pills from it. Question wouldn't ask what they were for because Martin would probably tell him before the conversation is over.
"He was never that sloppy in the ring, but of course he did look a bit broken down about something. Something he found out had him scared to death. I never really saw one of your types cry their eyes."
"Did he say anything at all?"
Three Months Earlier
"You are probably bugging out that somebody broke into your place and that it is me of all people. I couldn't believe what I read or saw in those files. I already know this world is a mess that we can never fully do something about, but still we have to be there to find what the heck is worth saving when it starts falling to pieces repeatedly."
Wildcat pulls down his mask. Ted Grant's eyes are nearly blood shoot from crying and tears.
There is no more Atomic Skull. There is only Joe Martin. He is a janitor on borrowed time.
" No matter how close everyone else in the world can drag it towards destruction, we still have to save it, not always sure what for or why we should, but the need is there… either we do something or do nothing. Can't do everything."
Martin is motionless, half dressed, and in bed.
Grant plops into the chair next to the bed.
"A strange thing is taking hold again. It is coming for me, for you, for everyone on that list, and this time I don't think there's going to be anyone left to stop it. Like the final round, but no K.O. I mean look at me dumping this on you, one of those so-called villains or rivals I fought in the ring."
Martin eases up yet remains wary of Grant's intentions. He takes pills from his capsule case.
Grant wipes his eyes on his costume sleeve and notes Martin taking the pills.
"You and the rest of them are the closest thing I have to friends. Sure I am close to the girls I trained, but I am just tired of being caught in the mix of this business and what it holds over attempts at living."
Grant gets to his feet, pulls his mask back on, and disappears out of the window. Martin climbs out of bed, locks the window, bolts the door to the apartment, sticks some folding chairs against other doors, and goes into the bathroom looking for sleeping pills. He sought to sleep like a log even though his anxiety had almost gotten to him while Grant was spilling to him about something big. He would try to block it out for weeks. When he saw the headline about a homicide involving a former boxer that looked exactly like the unmasked Wildcat that broke into his apartment, he went to where they said he would be buried after the weather improved enough to dig the earth.
"So he knew something except whoever it was got to him before he could tell anyone except perhaps in shock he had come here and babbled something to you that made almost no sense. Validates suspicions about this quiet conspiracy against the costumes, but the details are still unclear," comments Question.
Martin takes more pills and gulps down water from the tap.
"I told you everything… hey… why you going into my medicine cabinet!" grumbles Martin.
"Ah, Cale Pharmaceuticals, as in Veronica Cale?" remarks Question.
"So what… the company's insurance plan covers my health expenses and they have a policy with Cale so that's where I get my medications and pills from," retorts Martin.
"Have to keep that in mind. Be careful Martin, he said you were on the list too," responds Question.
"You got what you came for?" queries Martin.
"For now," replies Question.
Martin goes to check the door locks and by the time he makes it back to the fire escape window Question is already gone from his place. He had to wonder was getting away from being Atomic Skull worth being stuck to these medications and pills for the rest of his life, however long that is from here. He decides instead to close down for the night and get some sleep. One too many visits from costumes since trying to put Skull behind him were tiresome.
"First Lexcorp, then Kord Industries, and now Cale Pharmaceuticals are somehow caught up in this. So how long until Wayne Enterprises gets snared or maybe it already has by framing Bruce for murder?" mumbles Question.
He made up a display board in his Hub City apartment. The last time he made one was during the conflict between Cadmus and the League. Notions of intelligence, rationale, and sanity will not save the world. Plenty possessing anyone or all of those qualities have usually been responsible for acts of destruction that could lead to annihilation. Question realizes those same qualities didn't prevent him from driving at what he did during the height of the Cadmus-League conflict. Superman had found in hindsight that the League by design is walking the line between humility and hubris. Both organizations saw themselves in the 'right', but both did things 'wrong'.
Cadmus had Doomsday, Galatea, Task Force X, the Ultimen, and the Ultimen army as living weapons meant to counteract what they saw as a global threat brought on by the Justice League. Each in turn had proven to be a challenge as the first two were mentally unstable clones of the only two Kryptonians on Earth whereas the other two were put together with different operating imperatives. Doomsday is shut away in the Phantom Zone, Galatea took a direct surge of fusion energy when Supergirl hit her with the power relay from the Watchtower's Fusion Core yet both had come close to killing their intended victims. As for Task Force X, it is disbanded supposedly and the Ultimen outlived their usefulness even as an army of clones.
The Justice League kept the Watchtower II's Binary Fusion Gun a secret as its power source is the same energy that powers the Watchtower II and its satellites. The League also brought together an expanded roster that was more than six times larger than the first roster's numbers. Superman had the going rogue incident hanging over his head since the brainwashing by Darkseid. Batman had a less than stellar reputation with the GCPD at times. The most glaring of all was what happen with the former Hawkgirl, with Shayera Hol, as she had been a double agent, and much of her given history was largely a fabrication.
The backlash of her involvement with the Thanagarian Occupation would no more dissipate from memory then Superman's rogue incident. They would all remain in the shadow of the Justice Lords even with the passing of the tensions between Cadmus and the League. This is not news to Question as he had seen much of this with the exception of the Justice Lords from the start of his involvement with the League, but his suspicions about the Lords had begun from the discovery of the classified prison security footage.
He had to wonder if this new threat bears any connection to what happen with Cadmus especially with Lord being very proactive at least in the corporate sector is certainly a red flag. There is also the question of who will replace the late Ted Kord as the CEO of Kord Industries. One candidate is Jamie Reyes and another is Damon Dreiser. Reyes is seen as the problem solver behind the scenes at Kord Industries whereas Dreiser is the head of the company's R&D department. The 'jury' is still out on the decision, but then Kord's murder only happen less than two weeks ago. However the corporate wheels don't stop turning when somebody dies by illness or murder.
There is also a matter of who might replace Kord as Blue Beetle though that as some would say is up to the scarab. Ted Kord did not deserve the death he got, but then the same could be said for Ted Grant. Rarely do some try to befriend Question and those that do discover at least two things about him immediately. He is full of surprises yet something about him compels one to trust him. He never really got along with Grant though after what happen with Cadmus, Grant went back on calling him and Huntress nut jobs. His new way of referring to them was still abrasive yet true to form.
"You two keep each other sane. Separately you do really insane stuff, but maybe that's love. Personally I wouldn't know because I only loved a woman once and that was a long time ago."
He didn't like Ted Grant, but he could respect him on some level. As for Ted Kord, the man's only mistake could be he trusted too easily in this line of work, but again perspective on trust is relative for Question. He trusts, but there are few he trusts almost completely. He wonders if he ever trusts anyone completely and only maybe in that category is Helena. His feelings for her, which constitutes his love for her implies that he does trust her, but trust without 'limits' is not something he gives freely and he knows he does not have it from others either. He believes that Helena trusts him, but then they were both out to keep each other from dying when the other is in mortal danger.
Helena as Huntress went with Nightshade to the defunct psychiatric hospital in Maine. The very same where Lucas Eden had been a resident in until his purported suicide eight years ago. Nightshade or rather Eve Eden claims that he is not dead given that she has been sensing his magical 'footprint' repeatedly in recent months plus she had found traces of his presence during her last visit to the hospital. She also claims that all is not as it appears there too, which meant somebody had to go with her to verify her claims. Both Question and Huntress agreed that Huntress should go with her so he sits here in his apartment waiting for a reassuring cell phone call from her though he is not about to dwell on her safety again.
Huntress tries to refraining from shivering, but it is much cooler in rural Maine then it is in say urban Hub City. Her heart tugs at the thought that particular city because he is back there doing who knows what without her. She made a promise of sorts to never allow him to go any conspiracy chases without her to look after him, but of course this new thing meant splitting up into teams and she agreed to work with Nightshade for this part of the search. The 'vacant' hospital looks the part yet she could expect no less if whoever had run this place wants it to look convincing this many years later. Nightshade teleports herself and Huntress inside into what appears to be the central structure.
Helena through Huntress recognizes that Nightshade is a way for Eve to bury feelings and thoughts about what happen between her and her twin though not even a mask could hide everything. She would leave it to Eve as to when to come out from behind Nightshade in revealing herself fully yet that means becoming truly vulnerable. Helena however could grasp why Eve stays behind Nightshade even though it is Eve driving Nightshade to seek out Lucas or whatever alias he answers to now.
The set, the scenes, and the props all shown signs of disuse, dust, and decay, but it could all be an act all the same. Nightshade teleports them inside and all the more it looks just as Nightshade had told them from her last trip here. Huntress turns on her wrist light, which is like a flashlight except for being on a wrist with not one light source, but two. Very little of the surfaces are reflective between the dust and the aging of the furniture, the floors, and the fabric of the curtains. Nightshade leads the way to what she remembers being where she thought her 'father' would take her to see her brother when they took a weekend or holiday to visit him.
The trips had become more and more infrequent as she got older especially with her 'father's' political reputation, but leave it to someone like him to show more concern for his political standing then the twins that his wife, their mother, had left in his charge. She held little affection for him anymore and that much more anguish for not believing Lucas when they were younger. Eve's emotional and psychological ties to this place made it appear that much more disheartening and disturbing to Helena despite having the look of Huntress to shield her from some of it. Helena couldn't imagine a more saddening existence then to have a sibling, let alone a twin left in a place like this.
It must have hurt him more when she did not belief or share what he felt and thought to be the truth about what happen to their mother. Huntress looks back when hearing Nightshade speak for the first time since they had come inside.
"Some times I could never tell where many of my nightmares kept coming from after our mother's death, but I only had to look to or think of him to realize the nightmares were his though they could also have been memories of mine too," confesses Nightshade.
"Nightmares often have ways to express that which we are afraid of or we don't wish to face, but I doubt Lucas would willingly make you see these things through his eyes. Perhaps he was only trying to get you see what you already saw," comments Huntress.
"He always would look rather well when I saw him, but then it could have easily been drugs doing that to him. If he were suddenly cut off from what they kept him on all those years it could at least give me a sense of where to look for him, that is if he wants to be found," sighs Nightshade.
"You're his twin sister, I don't think he would resent you after all this time," continues Huntress.
"You have far more optimism then I have had in a long time, but I would love to believe you could be right about that except experience has taught me otherwise."
Huntress continues walking with the knowledge that Nightshade perhaps feels immense guilt for not believing her brother when they were younger, but then having seen her parents' murder firsthand from behind a closet door is different. Different by circumstance for certain, but someone had been responsible for what did kill their mother and it is for certain not an earthly based illness that eventually took her life, but Lawrence Schneider would validate no other explanation then a terminal illness. Schneider is either one for denials or he did not want it known that his wife was from another dimension and by extension his children are not actually his as well as being Homo Magi like their mother.
Nightshade relates how her earliest encounters with Captain Atom made her rethink what she thought of as the truth about what happen to her dead mother and her absent brother. She realizes that she kept behaving like she believed her stepfather because he was the only 'family' left in her life after her brother 'killed' himself or she was told eight years ago. When she finally took up being Nightshade almost entirely, she rarely saw her stepfather again. It was from then onward that she began to grasp what loneliness meant yet finding traces of her brother's magical 'footprint' sent her into a spin though she would not entirely trust in the possibility that he might not be dead just to keep her hopes down.
She had little faith in humanity except for those like Atom, Batman, Huntress, and Question.
Her stepfather and others like him made it difficult not to be cynical.
The briefings she had prior to almost assignment to Task Force X only challenge her further.
Eve learns about of the Vegas Situation (as Cadmus would call it later). Joker's bombs were a diversion in order for him to use Ace against whoever was watching the Justice League's attempt to disarm all the bombs. Not all the bombs were duds as proven by the one that nearly killed Green Lantern and might have done harm to Hawkgirl if not for Lantern blasting her clear with his ring. Joker had put four out five in field against a hero with similar abilities to their own or at least stood a chance against them.
She like millions of others would see and hear about the Royal Flush Gang's past. All seem to enjoy what they were and even more so like working for Joker. There was one exception however when Joker's tale on the origins of the Gang turns to the silent girl in the studio with him.
The other four were much older by the time Cadmus had found them, but she was the exception. This hit Eve the hardest because there across the screen sat a girl with immense telekinetic and telepathic powers yet she looks beyond emotion except in her eyes. The eyes are indescribable aside from sensing loneliness above all else. There were other emotions, feelings, and thoughts going on behind those eyes, but Eve could only stare back at them without knowing what or why she was staring still. The story that Joker would relate is much more than unsettling. The more she heard the less she wants to know about the girl though she cannot turn away, she had already done that with Lucas.
As an infant, 'Ace' had unknowingly put her parents into a comatose state. As a toddler she was taken from her home, they kept her powers in check with technology specifically made to counteract her Meta abilities and from there had her childhood been stolen from her.
Eve would see it that way while Nightshade at the time had to remain 'loyal' to Cadmus, but the more she found out about what they were doing and what they were doing it for, the more she wanted to just leave it all behind. Cadmus was not the first, but certainly not the last to engineer or search for metahumans to 'serve' as living weapons for 'justice'.
Eve didn't know whether to laugh at the ridiculousness of that claim or cry for the little girl who never got to be a little girl.
"I'm sure that you have heard of the Royal Flush Gang and one of them in particular. The one Joker referred to as Ace," says Nightshade.
"The playing cards theme, the bombs, and of course another Batman versus Joker encounter. However Joker lost his leverage with Batman pulling the headband out of Joker's jacket. After that nobody had seen her since then," remarks Huntress.
"My stepfather had no apparent misgivings about them using children or even me for that matter. I suppose I could have said no, but then I always had a hard time saying no to him. At least until I chose to consider that my brother was right about Mom," murmurs Nightshade.
"You talking about Cadmus?" comments Huntress.
"Yes, once I read over much of what went on prior to my reassignment to Task Force X. I left it behind and nobody could stop me with the 'public' face of government breathing down on them."
"I had my own problems with Cadmus. I don't care to rehash though they almost took from me the only thing that had given my life meaning again."
"I saw the security recordings from when you and Superman broke in to bust Question out of there. I saw how Superman and Atom fought almost to the death. In your place I would have done the same."
"Guess we aren't all that different after all."
"No, but you have him, he has you. As for me, there is still the search for my brother and whatever awaits me when I find him again. You also don't know what it means to be used as a living weapon."
"What about you and Atom?"
"He still grieves for Betty. My feelings for him, for Nathan, belong to time before all this happen to him or me. I'd like to believe we might know love as you and Question do, but I doubt it."
"Don't count out on love."
"If love meant all the things that make me sad could weigh less then the few things that could make me happy then I would believe in it again, but right I don't know what to believe."
She didn't have an answer, she could get grasps of something, but likewise she felt too close to be objective about it. Those like herself, her brother, and the one now known only as Ace evoke an inescapable floodgate of emotions. She sniffles as she catches herself crying behind her mask again and feels Huntress' hand on her shoulder. The lenses can't disguise everything from everyone yet if anyone could begin to grasp the way everything else from her past had taken hold onto her, it could be the one called Huntress yet she also hopes she can have something more with Atom someday.
Nightshade had heard the rationale. She was aware of the Superman rogue incident, but the Justice Lords incident was a need to know element. Of course she found out about it later, but even so that they would never justify the means or the ends of Cadmus. She would never trust anyone who believes living weapons are necessary, but then she had grown up in a world remade from the splitting of the atom. The use of non-living weapons had been with humanity forever yet living weapons sharpen consequences even further.
A living weapon bears little distinction from a non-living one except now the weapon is also an actual entity with thoughts, with feelings, but still they do all they can to ensure that the weapon will follow orders. Of course many of them did except by making them or having them as living weapons, it brings on consequences that are far more personal for the living weapon. However the handlers don't realistically give a damn except when they need the weapon to do something that is presumably far more precise then the so-called conventional weapons of the past.
He or she can do it, but why would they, what would make them, and how could they live with being the way they are, being used for that same way too?
The tiling although fading still shows patches of its original color, which is an alternating pattern of black and white. The hospital smell of the wallpaper likewise lingers, but it perhaps more memory potent for Eve, than for Nightshade. It is not a place for the criminally insane though it had long since kept its share of emotionally disturbed including Lucas Eden who while a resident likely had to answer only to his false surname despite doctor-patient confidentiality. Nightshade told this much from what little she could find of files from the administrator's office.
Together they pass the visiting area where there are broken two way windows. Nightshade presses her fingertips against one in particular. This one is likely the very same she would probably see her brother though when she had come here to see him. There is no urgency to hurry yet to hang around here too long would help little except to remind what happen here, what is still happening here for some more than others. The women leave this area and go in the direction of what were once the residents' hallways. Huntress thought there nothing else could scare her except her last run in with Scarecrow weeks ago, being in a psychiatric hospital is starting to bother her mentally yet she had to face her fears, not let them get the best of her.
She mentally wants to be done with this hospital already, but she had come with Nightshade to this place because Nightshade believes it would lead her to her brother even though she had been here before as Eve and as Nightshade. The further in she follows Nightshade, the more she wants to turn back, but she had come this far, so she could either press on or fall back though in the case of the latter she did not know the way back. Question often told her it is not in, not out, but through, so she would have to trust in his advice to see her through this experience.
"Believe me, I am more ill at ease with this place then you are Huntress. It is bereaving to be walking these hallways again, to bask in the wards that I left him in, to register all the lives that this place had sway over," murmurs Nightshade.
"So what exactly are we looking for now?" asks Huntress.
"Anywhere that they might have kept records otherwise I have come all this way for another dead end. This stairwell will lead us to the Administrator's Office."
"You know the way."
The floorboards groan as they ascend so some effort is made for stealth despite the assumption that they are alone. They start to near the Administrator's Office and the name on the door is almost too faded to read except Nightshade does something to it to briefly cause it to become fully readable after all this time. The name on the door is unfamiliar to both even though Eve obviously met this woman on several occasions during her visits here with her stepfather. The administrator was Doctor Lilith Andrews.
Huntress is about to make a lock pick except Nightshade unlocks with a hand gesture.
"Showoff," chuckles Huntress.
"It's magic," insists Nightshade.
The office looks like the rest of what they have seen so far. The desktop is dusty even under the drop cloths and the furniture looks worn for the years. There are almost no signs that a Dr. Lilith Andrews ever kept this office. There are empty file folders in the filing cabinets and nobody put locks on the cabinets. If the cabinets are empty maybe there was not a point to wasting money for locks though at one time the cabinets did have locking mechanisms. The locks were likely there when the facility was still publically active yet not now.
"Starting to look like a dead end," comments Huntress.
"My thoughts exactly, but I still want to check out the lower levels," remarks Nightshade.
"What do you mean lower levels?" queries Huntress.
"This hospital is not entirely aboveground. It never was, but then I did not know that as a teenager."
"So how do we go 'downstairs' then?"
Nightshade leans against the far wall and it turns inward revealing that the wall is not all that it appears to be though this is almost unsurprising to Huntress. They follow the winding stairwell to the sublevel and it looks almost the opposite of the aboveground sections of the hospital. There are at least four or five operating rooms down here. Another two rooms with psychological conditioning equipment and several sparsely decorated recovery rooms.
"It looks like somebody has been down here more recently then up there," says Huntress.
"I would say you are probably right, but whatever they were doing down here. It looks almost as abandoned as the aboveground sections except it is cleaner, which suggests they were here until recently," says Nightshade.
"I guess we are done here then unless you have someway of tracking your brother from all that we have seen so far," replies Huntress.
"He was not down here. Whether a Homo Magi tries it or not, there is always some hint of our passage wherever we go, and right now even I am leaving one here so if he were ever here again then he knows I was as well," remarks Nightshade.
"Do you remember where his regular room was aboveground?" asks Huntress.
"Yes I have been there and it was there that my search for him had begun indirectly as it had proven to me that he was not physically dead though emotionally and psychologically is another story."
Nightshade starts walking towards one of the psychological conditioning rooms and notes this is where they kept Carter Hall before he went on to join the intricate diversion from several nights prior in Gotham. She makes this assertion from the flood of imagery she is seeing from tactile contact with the door and the chair that he been latched onto for hours at a time. Nightshade goes to the other room's door and sees someone else that whose face she cannot see because the lights were always kept dim in this room. The underground sections were clearly the source of many recent troubles yet Huntress had to wonder if this was the cause of Ted Grant's murder or was there more to it then that is something tumbling around her mind.
"Is there anyway for us to prove anything about what happen down here?" probes Huntress.
"Whatever was used to record these procedures is no longer down here," answers Nightshade.
"Another dead end," murmurs Huntress.
"At least we know," continues Nightshade.
They return to the aboveground by the same way that they had come down below. Huntress pulls Nightshade down to the floor after hearing footfalls that were distinctly not theirs. Someone else is in here.
"How much longer until he is ready for the bonding process?"
"It took long enough to duplicate the method used to turn Captain Adams."
"So are we talking days or weeks?"
"A few more days and we'll be ready."
"Time to make no one finds anything of use here."
"Believe me Mr. Lord; this place won't be missed in the least."
"Good to know Dr. Magnus, remind me to thank your lovely lady for the medical equipment."
"I'm certain she'll be glad for it. This joint venture has been rewarding to say the least."
"Glad to hear you say that, we best be going… so teleport us out Wraith."
A third set of foot falls is audible yet the door never moves at all. Nightshade however realizes who is now among of them.
"Whenever you are ready I shall take you where you need to go," says Wraith.
Wraith prepares to teleport himself, Dr. Magnus, and Lord out of the seemingly empty office except when he reaches out mentally to begin the attempt his mind briefly touches Nightshade's mind.
"Could I have finally found you again?"
"They told me you were dead."
"I am alive though you best not keep them waiting."
"The things I have done… there's much to talk about…"
"It'll have to wait a little longer… you must go."
"I will not…"
"I worry more for your safety than mine right now!"
"Forgive me… I will contact you somehow."
Wraith finishes the teleport if the barely audible whooshing sound is any indication.
"Nightshade…Nightshade…"
Nightshade lies motionless on the floor.
"Answer me already!"
Nightshade snaps out of the trance like state. Huntress pulls Nightshade to her feet and so they decide it is time to leave at least the walls of this almost forgotten madhouse behind them. Nightshade teleports herself and Huntress back outside. The nearest town from here is Bar Harbor where Arrow and Canary are staying for the weekend, but no way to call them from here since they are out of range for the cell phone network's tower.
Both women turn around at the sound of an explosion. The hospital had gone up in flames and their departure had apparently been well timed.
"So who is Wraith?" asks Huntress.
"Lucas," answers Nightshade.
"You sure?" continues Huntress.
"It felt like him," remarks Nightshade.
"Where did he take them?"
"No way to know because the explosion left nothing to examine for a magical trace."
"Guess we better going to Bar Harbor and get the boys up here for a chat."
Question finds Atom among the ruins of the chamber where Captain Adams went through the bonding process that remade him into Captain Atom. He holds the pocket watch given to him by Betty. Question could not fathom what must be running through Atom's thoughts right now though there are clues from him being here and the pocket watch seems indicative that is about his life before Atom or at the very least about Betty's death. The League had been able to capture almost all who took part in the hostage situation involving Batman and Superman.
Conduit and Zoom remain at large.
Atom is quick to note Question's appearance.
"I should not have let her come with me that night," says Atom.
"Hindsight is not going to help you. She's dead," reminds Question.
"I get that Question, but if it were you… would you leave Helena to die?"
"Do you really think you have to ask me that?"
"Your reaction is telling enough."
"I rather die then let her die. The only catch is if I die, she would never forgive herself for not doing something to prevent it!"
"I know Betty made Nightshade take me out the blast area because of this damn suit!"
"You have done much good as both Captain Adams and Captain Atom. You can't save everyone no matter how much it bothers and hurts you to have someone you love die."
"How much can any of us lose before we lose everything that matters?"
"That is a question I have no answers for… just memories of what did happen and what I was afraid would happen… surely you have the same in mind too."
Atom shows Question more old photos of Nathaniel Adams and Betty Sans Souci. Not everyone perceives memory through time and some always view it outside of time including Captain Atom. Conversations between them always gravitate towards everything they went without or had given up on having at all. Question usually never felt like he was really a friend to anyone though he could imagine plenty disagreeing with him including Huntress. She had this way of bringing out parts of him that he rarely would find much use for at least until he met her. He recognizes what is troubling Atom, but does not know what to tell him.
Atom drops all the photos except one, which was taken on the first date at a carnival. He flies upward towards the moon and Question gathers the photos from the ground then slides them into his trench coat. He would get them back to Atom somehow, but for now, maybe Atom needs to be alone. Question returns to his car.
He finds an envelope between the windshield and the wipers of the Pontiac. It is Martin leaving some kind of a calling card, but given how Martin reacted to his unannounced visit there is no way to be sure what this means except he claims to found out something about his current employers.
He gets into the car and heads over to his nearest hidden garage. Once there he pulls his new laptop out of a lockbox in the car's trunk. The logo on Martin's stationary is the same as the uniform so he cross references in an attempt to determine what company employs Martin. The logo search reveals it to be Twilight Corporation so he decides to hack his way into the personnel files, which did seem a bit hard for an ordinary multi-venture corporation. He finds Martin's file along with dozens of others inside a highly classified personnel directory.
He had also found out that KGBeast was part of the security staff at Twilight's facility near Oliver Queen's penthouse on the West Coast. Likewise Floyd Lawton was working for a vehicle maintenance garage that is a subsidiary of Twilight Corp. Lawton had broken into one of Question's garages to plant the transducer, which did do the trick except Question barely got warning out to Dinah in time to save Huntress from the blast.
Research into backgrounds of Conduit and Zoom reveal less than surprising results. Conduit went to high school with Clark Kent. As for Zoom, he used to work at the same crime lab where Wally West still works to this day. Both likely held grudges against the alter egos of Superman and the Flash respectively, which made them prime candidates to divide and conquer the Founders. The same applies to Sinestro, Cheetah, and Hush. Four out of them are still out there.
Carol Marcus was an employee of Omega Energies, which is also a subsidiary of Twilight that had bought huge portions of the power plant sectors on the West Coast. This is how Marcus was able to infiltrate Queen's penthouse as a technician for Omega when they were doing power line 'upgrades' during the winter of the previous year just prior to KGBeast's attempt to kill Barbara, Oliver, Dinah, and Helena.
Twice he felt he had put Helena in an untenable position. The first was during the beginnings of their relationship when he tried to kill Luthor only to end up in the grips of Dr. Moon's neural stimulator, which remains the source of some of his nightmares. In nightmares all the 'choices' are the wrong ones, which is unnerving for a man accustom to the idea of being usually right.
The number of criminals and former criminals working for Twilight is curious so he would have to pose that query to Martin to see if he had seen any of them, but then Twilight never had too many of them working in the same place. The next catch is how did Grant find out about Twilight's hiring practices or its true owner presumably Maxwell Lord. The latest tangent comes to a close; he deletes everything, and heads off for Martin's apartment. His return to Hub City would have to wait and he realizes he is breaking a promise to Huntress, to Helena, by investigating further into this Twilight business without her.
The window on the fire escape is open, which is odd. Question ascends to the open window by climbing the fire escape and once inside for the second time in less then three days, he takes notice that the lights are off. Martin is sitting upright facing away from him in the dark. Question closes the distance and is about to ask him about why he went asking for a meeting tonight after what happen the other night. There is not even the sound of Martin breathing and that is when he sees a dark black tie around Martin's neck.
Joe Martin, once Atomic Skull, is now dead by strangulation and Question is in the apartment of a dead man.
"We know you are in there Question!"
Question attempts to go back to the window except he sees a whole detail of armed operatives at street level. They had been waiting to ambush him, but for what purpose remain unclear. He had to get away; his conclusions had to be known to the others though first priority escape capture. The door to the apartment would be the only way out besides the window so he takes off that way, but coming up the stairs are more operatives. He turns around then dashes down the hallway looking for a way up to the roof yet once up there he finds he is again cut off.
"I rather not order them to use any force necessary to detain you so give yourself up!"
"Not in the plan tonight so I'll be leaving now!"
"Have it your way!"
The operatives pile onto him and their leader pulls out an aerosol canister similar to the one he uses to remove his mask.
"Time to unmask the Question," says the leader.
Question struggles, but it is of no use now. He feels a prickling sensation in this neck.
Some kind of a sedative must resist it.
"Destroy all his communication equipment."
He can hear a boot crunching his earpiece comlink. He also hears somebody chucking his cell phone.
"Take him away. There are still others to deal with before the plan goes forward."
A/N 1: Joe Martin plays a role similar to Edgar Jacobi. Martin tells Question about the last time he saw Grant and also provides the clue to how so many attempts against costumes were made possible. As for how Martin dies, it was a setup to implicate Question.
A/N 2: Cale Pharmaceuticals belongs to Veronica Cale who apparently has been secretly attached to a joint venture with Lexcorp through Lord. Implications that Lord is putting together his own team is apparent and plans to forge a counterpart to Captain Atom is underway.
A/N 3: Nightshade's brother appears and is working for Lord, at least for the moment.
A/N 4: Ace's mention in this chapter ties into how Nightshade views what happen to various costumes including Atom, her brother, and to some extent herself.
A/N 5: Atom is behaving similarly to Dr. Manhattan in his behavior since Betty's death. Little of Earth holds any pull for him to stay except potentially Nightshade.
