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Posted by Blue Beetle
on 8/18/2008, 3:26 pm, in reply to "Quiet Move: Caissa"
76.84.93.240
The TV screen flickers through the cold glass, the breath from the by-standers watching intently fogs it up. One of the men balls his hand, tucking it up into his sleeve and wipes the glass. A small crowd had gathered around the building to watch the late breaking news. The closed captioning on the TV brings the crowd up to speed in the silence of the cold night.
"Today the World's Newest Super Team debuted. It has been three months since The Avengers officially "disassembled", and years since the Justice League graced our presence. But today the with help from the United Nations and business man Maxwell Lord, Booster Gold and the Global Guardians fought back a terrorist cell originating from Gorilla City, and lead by the infamous Gorilla Grodd."
The news cast cuts to coverage of the battle, in the sky flies Booster Gold along with heroes from all over the world, Vindicator from Canada, Captain Britain and his wife Meggan from the United Kingdom, The Olympian from Greece, Crimson Fox from France, and Red Lotus from Japan, among others. The battle is fierce, The Global Guardians holding back nothing against Grodd and his forces. The footage cuts to one of the networks anchors interviewing a man. He's nicely dressed something to be expected in his position. The bottom of the screen shows his name, Maxwell Lord.
"The public wants heroes they can trust, heroes who will protect them when they need protection and won't abandon them. With the United Nations help, we've put together a group of individuals who realize this. In the coming months you'll get to know them and hopefully trust them."
As the crowd watches, he can feel the sense of awe that emits off of them, it’s not the first time that he has seen the general populace react this way. His mind rushes back to the 50s and the JSA's testimony before Congress. Even then people still looked at them like they were gods. No one notices as we walks away, in the distance he can see the St. Louis Arch, the white lights shining up making it stick out in the night sky. He walks until he arrives at one of the city's high rises. He looks at the list of residents, his finger running along the cold plastic, finally settling on Celia Forrestal, the hero of St. Louis, known to the public as Skyrocket. He doesn't bother to ring up, instead with a mere thought his form becomes intangible and he walks into the building. He tries to reach out to feel her presence but instead he is met with nothing. He fears he's too late, too late to save another one. He doesn't bother with stairs or an elevator, instead he flies intangibly through the apartment building until he reaches the 11th floor. He walks towards the apartment and through the door. She's lying on the floor, her body is bruised, and she’s unconscious. He can hear the slow rhythmic beat of her heart, she's barely alive. And he's too late again.
I rub my neck, Bruce went easy on me, and to think for a minute there I thought I had him. He smirks as he reaches down to help me up.
"I lasted 5 minutes this time instead of 3. Suppose that's an improvement." To say that my thoughts have been somewhere else is an understatement. While my body may be in the Bat-Cave, I'm still on the roof with Melody, the flurries resting on our clothes as we share a...a moment.
"You did good Ted, looks like Checkmate is teaching you something after all." I'm not surprised he knows, I just wonder how long he's been in on it. Since I left Gotham? Since Opal and my fight with Doctor Alchemy?
"So... I mean I'm not surprised but...." I'm not sure what I'm getting act, Bruce is so guarded I'm not really expecting an answer or anything. I watch as Bruce walks from the training area toward the massive computer he houses in the cave. It reminds me of the one that I have in the Nest...
"Crap..." I mumble. The Nest. Chicago. Betty. With everything that's happened I'd forgotten all about her. I'd been helping her, giving her a place to look after, and then I just disappeared.
"What?" Bruce looks over at me, even without the cowl, I feel compelled to tell him about the time I took the jawbreaker from the drug store down the street when I was eight.
"Nothing." I reply as Bruce sits down at the computer and begins to type. I watch as he brings up a picture on the large screen.
"Luthor...."
"I'm still glowing." I say into the cell phone holding it close to me ear. Bruce gave me the location; he had Black Lighting help him track it down. After Luthor's escape from S.H.I.E.L.D custody no one's seen or heard from him, more then likely he's planning something big and with the OMAC virus out there, it makes connecting the dots easy.
"So when are you...?" She asks. In all the years that we've worked together I've never heard her sound like this.
"Soon. Well eventually; I think." I've programmed the cell phones myself, encrypted with a few ideas of mine that I've kept to myself all these years. The longer I can keep her off of Checkmate's grid the better, I don't plan on her being used as leverage anytime soon. I'm bouncing our current conversation off of a dozen Wanyetech satellites not to mention a few Kord Omniversal ones as well. The encryption changes every fifteen minutes as do the randomly generated phone numbers. The memories of Ralph and Sue are still too fresh, I've promised myself I won't let anything happen to her.
"I've got to go, I'll call you tomorrow." I say. She says she can't wait and she'll be counting the minutes, I tell her she's such as girl, she laughs as we both hang up. This relationship thing is easier then I thought.
The bar is sleazy; let's face it I wouldn't be here if it wasn't. As I walk in I inspect the room, in the corner are two women dressed for something that I can only guess is against the law in most Red States. Two TV's sit above the bar; one is tuned to ESPN, the other to the local news. I sit facing the one playing the news. The bartender talks to a man who I can only describe as scruffy haired. From his profile he looks strangely familiar, the man not the bartender. My eyes drift back to the TV to see the footage of a fight. I groan aloud to see Booster right in the middle of it.
"You've got to be kidding...." I mumble looking around the bar. I'm not really sure what my next move is, this spy business is still too new to me.
"Can I get you a drink?" The bartender asks; he's slightly overweight, about the same build as me. He's got a scar over his left eye. And another that runs up his arm.
"I'll have a beer." I say watching as he reaches down and takes a cold one out of the large refrigerator that sits behind the bar.
"Thanks." He sets it down, the beer hisses as he opens the bottle. Again I look around; the man who had been at the end of the bar is gone as if he was never there at all. My "Beetle Sense" tingles a little knowing that isn't probably a good thing.
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