Two Hours Ago:
“Ravager, that you?” Lyle Goggins, the sub-par ‘super’-villain known as ‘The Eye’ peered through the doorway of the dank room that he and his other Z-lister comrades had commandeered. They would claim, to the other lowlifes, that ‘commandeered’ was what they had done, but in reality, they were at the bottom of the food chain, mere cannon fodder-- this room was one they had found not in use. The well lit rooms, the grand halls that Deathstroke and the others used… they were elsewhere. And they were happy with that. The further away from the Headline-Rogues the better. Less chance of being roped into some kind of crazy scheme that ended up with them being a bit edgier, a bit darker, a bit more dead.
“Maybe,” replied Ravager, as he entered the room that The Eye was inside. “Poker?”
Lyle looked at the other Rogues around the table, the cards, the chips, the open cans of beer, and then stuttered a reply. “Y-yeah, umm, you want to play?”
“With you? No offense, Lyle Goggins, but your metahuman ability is it to read bodies. If you weren’t such an inept so-and-so, you’d be a deadly combatant. As you are, you’re just a pawn. But I’m guessing you play one hell of a hand of poker.”
Goggins couldn’t help but smile. “…You’ve heard of me?”
The Ravager was looming over The Eye now, his metallic armour belying nothing. The Eye was shaking. He was used to seeing everything, every insecurity, every possible action, and right now… The Ravager was a blank slate. “The Guardian took you down hard in Metropolis nine months ago. What, did the Society break you out? Put you to good use? They use you to wheedle out the traitors and the liars.”
“Don’t be so hard on the guy,” said one of the other poker players. “We’re all on the wrong side of the law, Ravager, no need to put yourself on the wrong side of the wrong side, you know what I mean?”
Ravager turned at this new player, and nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t play poker with you either, Mind-Eater. What, this a cheaters-game?”
Mind-Eater leaned forward. “It’s not cheating if you’re all cheating. We’re the psychics of the Society, the readers and the watchers. And we’ve all wanted to get a piece of you. Guys like Deathstroke, they've got mental walls erected by sheer force of will. You don’t see anything he doesn’t want you to see.”
“Yeah,” muttered another villain, a woman this time. “My mind was drifting late one night, and I think Deathstroke was meditating, pushing all his violent, dirty thoughts out into his outer-consciousness. I caught a mind full. Nightmares for a week after that.”
“I had to lobotomise her,” chuckled Mind-Eater. “A minor bit of psychic surgery, but one you can appreciate if you’re in our position.”
“If I was, I’m sure I could. Mind-Eater. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Oh, yeah?” said Mind-Eater, leaning back in his chair. “Am I world-renowned? I mean, you’re one of The Voice’s ‘inner circle’ of stone-cold bastards, aren’t you? I must be in the big leagues if you’ve been looking for me.”
“Something like that. Do you recognise this?” Ravager swung his arm up, and a loud clang echoed down the corridors as the Guardian’s shield landed on the table, in the middle of their cards and their chips and their beers.
“That’s…” Mind-Eater grinned. “That’s The Guardian’s shield. That sonofabitch made my life a living hell in Metropolis. So, it’s true? You killed him? You killed that @#$&-head?”
Ravager said nothing for a lingering moment, before looking around at the other players. “Something like that,” he moved to sit beside Mind-Eater, and took a place at the table. Motioning to the shield, and then to the chips everyone had in front of them, Ravager said one more thing before silence overcame them once more. “Deal me in.”
Secret Society of Super-Villains
Issue Five: The Underground
Part Five (of Six): "VILLAINS"
Written by Charlie Wilkins
Cover by Steven Howard
Edited by Alex Vasquez
Hawkman was stood behind the main computer operator. Star charts were being pulled up, and every now and then, Katar Hol would grunt, and point at a constellation, or planet. “There. And then…” he pressed his finger to the screen, and dragged the image across, until they were in another sector of space. “…Home.”
“Thanks, Mr Hawkman, sir,” said the operator. “This is all coming along very nicely!”
“Glad to help,” grunted Hawkman, as he looked to the other men behind him. “So, Green Lantern uploaded the universal space sector structure into the computers?”
“That was last month,” said Adam Strange, as he typed something into a console. “We’re mapping the universe, one sector at a time. We thought it best to start with what we knew.”
Hawkman nodded slowly. “And let me just ask again, so I’m sure. You’re staying on Earth for the time-being to help out?”
Adam Strange straightened up, and grinned. “I am Rann’s official ambassador to Earth. And Alanna thought I could use time on Earth, to reacquaint myself for the role. I’m back at the UN next week, and then I’m catching a Zeta Beam back home. Being a man-of-two-worlds is hard work.”
“Isn’t it just,” said Hawkman slowly. “But we try our best, don’t we?”
“Indeed we do, Katar,” replied Adam, patting the Hawk-Knight on the back. “So, we’ve got to wait for this data to upload, so we’re sure, and then we’ll have the sector plotted to perfection. Spiraling away from '2814' was a solid idea—though I don’t think the scientific community appreciates that Earth’s home sector is so far down the line. But what’s the point of shifting something that’s so intrinsic to the universe for vanity’s sake?”
“It’s what I never understood about ‘Earth-One’,” came another voice, as Blue Beetle entered the laboratory. The main computer operator gulped, and tried to continue at his work without embarrassing himself. This was becoming a regular cape show… “I mean, who are we to say that we’re ‘Earth-One’? The guys over at ‘Earth-Two’ must feel like they took the short straw, you know?”
“Beetle, what are you doing here?” asked Adam Strange, scratching his forehead.
“Ah, that was me, I’m afraid,” said Hawkman, almost smiling. “It’s League Poker night. It’s my turn to organize the venue, and, well, I didn’t want to disappoint our friends at STAR Labs and cancel the information drop. So I asked the project managers and--”
“Right, let’s get this game going! I brought the chili!” Green Arrow entered the lab, holding a cooler full of beer and a pot full of Queen-brand chili. “Hawkman, o-chum-o-mine, you’ve really out done yourself this time round, haven’t you?”
"Alright, guys?" said another man, this time around it was Pat Dugan, following Oliver Queen into the room, with a selection of drinks and snacks in brown paper bags in his arms. "Hope we're not too late."
"Just in time," replied Katar, as he placed his mace on the empty table he'd commandeered from the STAR Labs technicians.
The computer operator looked to the assembling Justice Leaguers and select Seven Soldiers, and then shook his head. “I’m going to let the program run on autistic mode, so I don’t have to be here. I’ll be back in the morning, uh, if you need any help, the night shift are around.” He turned to Adam Strange. “You’re alright to keep at the systems yourself? I mean, if you need me, I can, uhm, stay, but--”
“I’ll be fine,” said Adam Strange, as he followed the man out of the lab. “Don’t you worry about it, and don’t worry, I’ll keep the guys away from the fine-machinery.”
“I wouldn’t make promises I couldn’t keep, Adam,” both Strange and the operator jumped as The Question turned a corner and loomed at them. “I hear Green Arrow is a sore loser.”
“--That’s only if I lose!” called the emerald archer at the mention of his name. “And I don’t intend to, TQ!”
“Nice to see you, Question,” said Blue Beetle, as he took a soda from Green Arrow’s ice-box. “Surprised you pulled yourself away from Hub City. Heard you’ve got some trouble there--?”
The Question shrugged. “Trouble? Yeah. But I was going a little crazy, I needed the time away from the case to let it process in my head. Too many threads and possibilities loop-the-looping in my mind, I need to let them settle. And I heard Arrow here was going to bring his chili, and, well, I’m a sucker for it. It’s the only reason I stuck around the League as long as I did.”
"Enough shop talk," said Green Arrow. He turned to Blue Beetle, who was fiddling with a small spherical device in the middle of the room. "We ready to go, BB?"
"Gimme a sec, hey, Stripesy, give me a hand?" Blue Beetle peered over the device, and Pat Dugan joined him. "Or, sorry, do you prefer Stripe?"
"How about Pat?" chuckled the mechanic, before shrugging. "I don't mind either way, Beetle. I mean, do you mind being named after a bug? It's all semantics in this business--" Dugan pointed to a selection of wires in the middle of the device, and then to Ted. "--There. Something's come loose. You need to reattach your--"
Ted nodded slowly as Pat explained the problem, and then went about fixing it. A few seconds later, the device was humming, and in the centre of the spherical device, a small blue bead was floating on air. With the task at hand completed, the two heroes stood up. "Right, the sphere is active. We're in a communications dead zone. Masks off, gentlemen, you know the rules."
The Question pressed a button on his belt, and was engulfed in the cloud of chemicals that stripped his mask off his head. His dark hair faded into red, and he was no longer the faceless vigilante of Hub City, but Charles Szasz, freelance reporter. Adam Strange's jet-pack was already hanging up in the corner, but he reclined and grinned as he watched everyone else remove their masks. Katar Hol's wings rested against the wall, but he kept the rest of his armour on. His helm, on the other hand, was sat next to his chips. He patted it softly, and then looked to Green Arrow, who simply peeled off his domino mask, and also placed it on the table. Pat shrugged, and looked to Blue Beetle, and Ted Kord followed suit and pulled down his cowl. "I best find my poker face then, shouldn't I?" said Kord, smiling.
Green Arrow began to deal out the cards, and then looked around at the heroes present. "Dealer's choice, gentlemen. Texas Hold 'Em. We're all aware of the rules?" The heroes nodded. "Then let's play. But first, a toast." Ollie brought up his beer, and the other heroes followed his example with their own drinks. "To absent friends."
"To absent friends," replied Adam, Katar, Pat, Charles and Ted in unison, before drinking.
"Now, to hell with pleasantries, you're all going down," said Oliver, grinning.
* * *
Toyman was first through the portal. His robotic body surveyed the scene, and made sure no sensors would pick up on their entrance. He clicked and he clacked and then Deathstroke landed hard on the concrete and stood slowly. They were in. Catman was next through the portal, then Ravager, followed finally by Major Disaster.
Warp peered out of the portal he had created, and then found Deathstroke in the dark. "If you need me, do not 'esitate to call. Au revoir in the meantime though, oui?"
"Get out of here, Warp," snapped Deathstroke, as he unsheathed his sword. "...Blake?"
"Something's not right. I caught a whiff of something in the air. Concentrated alpha-male, but it's gone now, and there's..." Catman sniffed the air again, and then looked back at Deathstroke. "There's something wrong here. I don't like it."
"We're in a house of mad science," said Ravager slowly. "There's bound to be something here to mess up with your senses."
Catman straightened up, and took his bowie knives out. "You insinuating I'm paranoid, tin-man? Don't make me peel you out of your armour like a sardine tray."
Ravager loomed over Catman, and looked down at the master-hunter. "Don't make me break your face open for the whole world to see."
Catman snarled, Ravager simply stood in silence, and Deathstroke snapped at both of them. "Idiots. You're idiots. This is why these things never work. Leave your egos at the base-- I will not have a mission compromised by your chest beating bull@#$%!"
"Mr Wilson is correct, friends," said Toyman in his sing-song voice. "Why can't we all get along?"
"Enough," said Slade. "Toyman, deploy the anti-security measures. What is it you wanted me to say...?"
Toyman's expressionless face ticked to the side. "'Lose your marbles', Mr Wilson."
"Hhf," sighed Deathstroke. "Toyman, please, lose your marbles."
Toyman knelt over, and a small hole opened up in his wrist. As if on cue, dozens of marbles sang out of a hidden compartment, and, as if they were operating with a mind of their own, they vanished into the shadows, climbed up the walls, and vanished through doors and air ducts. "There we go, my little creations are away, causing all kinds of sensor scrambling mayhem."
"Good, now, we move forward." Deathstroke looked back at Ravager and Catman. "Keep your cool. You're on the same side. Don't make me hurt you."
Catman nodded slowly, and his gaze moved away from Ravager. "I'll do my job."
Major Disaster, on the other hand, throughout all this, was nervous. He was in the big leagues now, it appeared. Deathstroke? Catman? Toyman? Ravager? A weird group of misfits that he had been looped into being part of. The job was simply-- snatch and grab some high-tech machinery to aid in a future scheme. Paul Booker never played it like this. The Voice was all about the long game, whilst Disaster had been, for most of his criminal life, about the quick score, the hide and the seek, and the occasional fight with Green Lantern. Green Lantern. "Christ..."
"Something the matter, Major?" inquired Toyman.
"No mate, just, eh, thinking," Booker shrugged. "Let's grab that thing and get the hell out of here, okay? I never liked these places."
"The dark? The strange? The foreign? I adore it," said Toyman, before leaving Major Disaster in the basement. "Are you coming?"
"Hurm."
The team moved slowly through the corridors of the complex, eluding security patrols and scientists. They weren't here for the confrontation. They were here to steal, and that's all they needed. If they got in undetected, all the better, but the fact of the matter was... this place was guarded. Sealed up tight. You couldn't teleport directly to the device, or alarms would blare, and lock-down would be in effect-- a psychic baffling field would keep you in. So the basement was where they started their journey. The Voice had Major Disaster use his abilities to scramble the systems underneath the complex. A simple earthquake would knock the net off for long enough for them to do this. When they were ready for the exit, another earthquake, a few points higher on the Richter scale, and the entire system would crash, and Warp would carry them on out. This was a relatively easy task, considering.
"Something's gotta' go wrong," murmured Booker.
* * *
"Hhh?" Katar Hol abruptly stood, and looked around. "Something's wrong."
"What?" Green Arrow's hand went for his bow, and Blue Beetle pulled his cowl over his head. Adam Strange's plasma weaponry shifted into active and Dugan wiped his mouth, following Katar's sudden alert gaze, and all the while, The Question was back, his face obscured by his binary gas.
"I can... the air shifted. Something's wrong." Hawkman was already pulling his wings on before anyone could question it. His helm was the last to go on, and his mace was back in his hand. "The air just got... I don't know how to explain it, the air got heavier."
"My armour scans my immediate surroundings," said Adam Strange, as he typed something into a holographic console that appeared as he thought about it. "...The cameras are on loops. The sensors are being over-played by footage from two minutes ago, hell, I think we're under siege."
"The quietest siege I've ever been under," said The Question, as he rolled up his sleeves.
"Well, there goes our game," mumbled Green Arrow, as he pulled an arrow from his quiver.
Two Hours Ago:
"So, how did it feel to kill The Guardian?" Mind-Eater wouldn't stop talking. The other psychics had quietly resigned themselves to the fact that Ravager was beating them all, but Mind-Eater kept putting more and more money in, and Ravager matched him bet for bet. "I mean, I hate-- hated-- the guy. Loathed him. I had a perfect thing going on, way-back-when. I was going to be a protagonist, you know? I was going to save Metropolis from the metahuman villainy that came with having a super-powered community living on the edges of Suicide Slum. I was going to be the hero of Krypton Square! But he got in my way. I mean, aha, I killed his lady, did you know that? So I don't know who did the most damage. If anything, you put him out of his misery."
"I'm sure. Call."
"Hey, Mr. Ravager, sir?" Goggins drew Ravager's attention, and then cleared his throat. "I have a question, and I don't mean to be rude, so please, don't take offense... but why are you here? With us, I mean?"
Ravager was silent for a moment, before replying. "I wanted to speak to Mr. Crawley."
"You know my name? Christ, Ravager, you sure did your research. You know all about Goggins over there, you know about me, what are you, some kind of fanboy?"
* * *
"Hey, what are you--?!" Deathstroke threw a shuriken so hard that it split a security guard's head open wide, and the man fell to the floor before he could raise the alarm.
"Damn," he whispered. "That isn't good."
"What, he didn't raise the alarm or anything, we should be fine, shouldn't we?" said Major Disaster.
"Guards are on rotation. Guards have to check in. Our timetable just moved up. It's just round this corner, right? The schematics of the labs we got from our friend Senator Callahan said as much--" Deathstroke turned the corner toward their target when an emerald arrow shaft hit him square in the chest. "What?" The explosion sent The Terminator flying back through a wall, and immediately alerted the rest of the team to something not being quite right.
Green Arrow grinned. "Deathstroke, the Terminator? He ain't so tough."
"Try me on for size." Catman leaped at Green Arrow, his bowie knives singing as they sliced through the Emerald Archer's bow. Ollie swung the pieces of wood up to block the killing stroke Catman went on to attempt to deliver, whilst the rest of the assorted heroes were attacked head on by the other villains.
Toyman was faced down by The Question and Stripesy, who went into the fight fists raised and ready. They rained down a fury of blows on the robot, the paint-work chipped and dents formed in it's body, but the animarrionette Toyman's mouth fell open, and a boxing glove caught The Question square in the face, reeling him back. Dugan ducked, and drove his shoulder up underneath Toyman's right arm, and struck with such force that he heard the limb creak. "Owie!"
Ravager saw Adam Strange, and powered up his own artillery. The two of them stormed toward each other, Strange with his jet-pack purring, Ravager with his feet hitting the concrete again and again, leaving mighty footprints where he connected. Ravager dove forward and grabbed Strange, and the hero of Rann lost control of his jet-pack, and the two of them swung through a wall, and into the open air outside.
"You," grunted Hawkman, aiming his mace at Major Disaster. "I recognise you. Elemental. Punk."
"Hey, hey, no need to get personal...!" said Booker, as he brought up his hand and the entire building shook.
"No need to get personal? You made it personal when you took to a life of crime. You made it personal when chose to even think to fight me." His mace was swung back, and Major Disaster shook his head. As the weapon drove forward, Disaster concentrated, and the head of the weapon cracked in two, falling to the floor beside Hawkman.
"Not today, Hawks," bragged Disaster, wagging his finger.
"That was my favourite mace," howled Hakwman, as he punched Major Disaster in the face. "You just made a big mistake!"
Green Arrow was holding his own, but barely. Martial arts was not his forte, but he could fight-the-good-fight with the best of them, and the classes that Dinah made him take in Las Vegas were beginning to make perfect sense now. He dodged and blocked, but was unable to get on the offensive. The blades sang as they neared his face, but he kept his wits about him, and heaved Catman back over his head, and this gave Queen the opportunity to get back to his feet.
Catman was about to drive his knives into Green Arrow’s chest when Hawkman turned his attention back toward their duel. “Arrow!” Hol shouted, as he threw him one of the many weapons he had on him-- this one a baton-- that Queen relished the chance to get his hands on.
The bowie knives shrieked against Queen's weapon, and Green Arrow shrugged. "It's not a bow. But it'll do."
"I hate you." Catman was kicked back, but didn't hesitate to press forward. The blades clashed with the baton, blow after blow being deflected. "I'll kill you."
"I don't think so." Hawkman dropped the unconscious form of Major Disaster, and grabbed Catman by the cape, swung him round, and threw him into a wall. "Trade you," he said to Arrow.
"Yours is unconscious," replied Green Arrow, but then he saw Dugan working away at Toyman, landing blows that caused the large, imposing, puppet-shaped villain to spark and splutter. He was about to go help when Major Disaster grabbed his leg, and yanked him to the ground. "My mistake..."
The Question pulled himself to his feet, and looked up at Dugan, who was still going to town on Toyman. "He's a robot," grunted Dugan, keeping his guard up. "I'm good with machines. Good at building them. Good at dismantling them."
"Oh me! Oh my!" squealed Toyman. "This isn't at all fair!"
"Lord, this guy goes up against Superman, and he's saying that going up against us is unfair?" The Question grabbed a pipe that had become dislodged in the fracas, and whistled for Dugan's attention. He tossed the weapon to Stripesy, and the hero swung it like a bat, nearly taking off Toyman's head. His neck quadrupled in length, and sparks flew from the villain's open mouth.
"Superman always plays f-f-f-fair!" Toyman's chest opened up, and half a dozen toy airplanes shot out, and circled Dugan, but The Question was at his back, and used his trenchcoat to grab them all before they could pick up speed. He dragged them to the ground and stamped all over them, and Toyman looked at Dugan as he grinned. "Oh, no."
"It's all science, Toyman, just like any other. This one's the sweet science, and you know why?" Toyman didn't have a chance to answer, Dugan punched him across the metal jaw, and the clang of flesh on damaged metal rang out and the animarionette fell to the floor with a thud. "Because it feels so damn good. Except, jeez-Louise, I think I broke my hand..."
* * *
Deathstroke had found the device they needed. He uploaded the software that The Voice had delivered to him, and turned around. Blue Beetle hit him with his BB Gun, and Slade cried out in surprise. The taser charge racked his body, and he fell down on one knee. "We're not idiots, Slade."
"Blue Beetle, or, ehh, eha," Deathstroke struggled to stand, but Beetle hit him with another charge. "gggahhh"
"Stay down, I can keep at this all day." That was a lie. The BB Gun only had a dozen charges, and he was down to ten. "What's going on here?"
"You're lying." Slade pulled himself up, and took another charge to the chest. He shrugged it off. "You need to learn how to lie, Teddy. And you know that whole deal with you revealing your identity on live television? A £$%^ing mistake." Deathstroke grabbed Blue Beetle by the throat, and took his pistol from it's holster. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't blow your brains out right here?"
"Yuhhh..." was all that Ted managed as the life was being choked out of him. His legs flapped about awkwardly beneath him as Slade moved him up higher and higher. "You'll get blood... all over... your mask?"
"Heh." Deathstroke kicked Beetle hard in the chest, a move that sent Beetle crashing through the table that held their poker paraphernalia. "You made me laugh, Beetle. That buys you a free pass." Slade turned to the computer console, and then grinned beneath his mask. "Gotcha."
"You're a warrior, aren't you?" Hawkman dodged Catman's knives, and drew his own katars from his back. Metal clashed and sparks flew as they fought. "I can tell. Your style is... rough. But I can see the... hh... attraction."
"Shut up and die," hissed Catman. As if Hawkman had taken extra-offense at this, the front of his costume was torn open, and Hawkman's attack drew blood. "Ggrrr..."
Catman's fury doubled, and Hawkman barely had a chance to compensate for the change in speed. He kept up the offensive though, for every strike that pierced his armour, he took blood from Catman, until suddenly Catman roared with an almighty fury, and drove his knives up into Hawkman's chest, just beneath his ribcage, and Katar grunted. Blood dribbled from the holes in his armour and in his torso, and he dropped to one knee. "Very... well... fought..." He keeled over, and Catman turned to see Deathstroke nod at him as he emerged from the laboratory. Deathstroke's eye found Hawkman, and even though Blake couldn't see Wilson's expression... he felt Slade's look of disgust piercing his head.
Major Disaster grunted as Green Arrow kicked him in the chest, but at that moment, when Deathstroke buzzed him on his communicator, he knew he had to step up. He closed his eyes, and for a moment, Green Arrow thought he'd kicked the fight out of the villain, but then the entire complex began to shake, and the ceilings began to creak and groan, bits of plaster and dust falling down on their heads. "Quit it, Disaster! Don't you--"
"Bonjour!" Warp appeared in front of Green Arrow, and punched him in the face, causing him to fall back. "Au revoir!" Major Disaster was pulled out of the corridor, and Blue Beetle, staggering to his feet and out of the lab, was surprised to see the same happen to Catman and Deathstroke. Stripesy was punched in the back of the head, and as was The Question, and Toyman too vanished.
"Adam!" shouted The Question, as he looked around. "Where the hell is Adam?"
Dugan shook his head, and dropped to his knees to examine Hawkman's injuries. "Sonofagun, Katar, are you okay?"
Katar's eyes opened slowly, and he smiled. "It's on."
"What?" said Dugan in surprise, as the Thanagarian warrior climbed to his feet. "Katar, you shouldn't be standing--"
Adam Strange landed inside the building, and looked to Hawkman. "You get all that?"
"Yes," nodded the Hawk-Knight. He removed his chest plate and looked at his wounds. "It's nothing, Pat, I'm fine. I'm made of sterner stuff that you might think."
"What's going on?!" shouted Green Arrow, as he limped over to the assembling heroes.
Hawkman shook his head. "Adam, you might want to explain what you just told me..."
Two Hours Ago:
Ravager grabbed Mind-Eater by the neck and slammed his head down on the table. A small panel opened in his armour, one that none of the others had seen open before, and a small pistol hissed into his hand. He held fast on Mind-Eater's head, and drove the weapon against his spine, and pulled the trigger.
"NAAHHHH!" screamed Lucian Crowley, as he scrambled to claw whatever it was out of his flesh.
The other psychics didn't know what hit them. Ravager picked up The Guardian's shield, and swung it hard-- the weapon moved like a boomerang, struck them across their faces and then was caught by Ravager's waiting hand. He slammed Crowley into the table again, and took his pistol to each of their necks, before returning to Mind-Eater. "You don't know your place."
"I... I'll kill you! I'm... I am... I'm someone..."
"Don't try to think. That was a nano-inhibitor, it's attached to your spine. You can't remove it with your fingers, and your mind-powers don't work anymore. I didn't come looking for you, Crowley. I didn't. You're a bonus." He slammed the man's face into the table again, and watched Mind-Eater fade into unconsciousness. "Punk." He went to the door, and then took another weapon from inside his armour-- this time, it was a small spherical device, with a glowing blue bead in the centre. "You're in a communications dead zone. I've amped up the signal. You won't wake up unless I want you to." He placed the device on the floor, and then closed the door behind him. He scrambled the code, and then turned to see Mr Blink standing behind him. "What?"
Mr Blink, The Voice's messenger, stuttered and shook like nobodies business. He finally found his words, and used them accordingly. "Uhm, The Voice, he, he has a job for you. An assignment. The laptop with the message awaits with Deathstroke and the others. You're going off site."
"Why, thank you."
Now:
Major Disaster's face looked like it had been through a Cuisinart. People came for him straight away, lackeys from any number of criminal organisations that had defected with promises of actual power, with actual progression into the ranks of super-villain-bad-ass. Toyman was taken away for repairs, Catman headed to his room for a long shower, and Ravager and Deathstroke were left alone in the staging area.
"Tough fight. Stupid, really. We got sloppy."
"Where is everybody?" asked Ravager, quietly.
"Warp's moved them all to a secondary location. We're shutting down operations in Hub City. The plan was always to move locations every week or so. Like I said, we got sloppy."
"I'd have expected better," said Ravager, shaking his head.
"Excuse me?" snapped Deathstroke. "I got us out of there. I didn't have to. I did you a favour. Don't make me regret it."
"Regret it? I regret it every time you take a breath." Ravager turned to Deathstroke slowly, and The Terminator took his katana from it's hilt. "Are you scared, Slade?"
"I always had a bad feeling about you. What? You want to make it into the big leagues by killing me? You want to be the big-bad-Voice? Or maybe you are The Voice, is that it? What's your game?"
Ravager shook his head. "The Voice isn't on site. I was hoping to track him down during my time here, but I realised something-- he addresses the masses through mass psychic presence. With us-- you and I with our psychic buffers installed and maintained by strength of will, and Catman, for instance, operating on a lower field of thinking-- he has to communicate through laptop. Fascinating. Do you know who he is?"
"I have my theories. Who are you?" repeated Deathstroke, his blade out fully now, and a wary step between him and Ravager.
"It's obvious, Deathstroke, who I am." Ravager's armour hissed. The joints decompressed, and slowly wound back. Deathstroke covered his good eye, but kept his sword levelled squarely at Ravager now. The smoke loitered in the air, and Deathstroke heard someone exit the armour. The man-- as it turned out to be-- stepped forward, and Slade could see a smile form on the man's face. "...But why don't you take a guess?"
To Be Continued
Read more:
http://dc2universe.net/thread/8346/5-underground-pt-villains#ixzz2oK9ZEjpd
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