Santa Prisca
June 20, 22:33
It went without saying that the Zephyr was among the stealthiest aircrafts on the planet—if not the stealthiest.
I had crammed it full with all sorts of concealing and obfuscating technology such that even Superman would be hard pressed to locate it without using his sensory abilities to the fullest.
This was of course, exaggeration, but the math told me it was close enough. However, close enough wasn't good enough, especially where a mission assigned by Batman himself was concerned.
Our objective on Bane's private slice of the world was one of pure observation. We were to get in, find out if the Kobra cult had taken over his Venom factory like they did in canon, report our findings to the League, and get out, all without making ourselves known.
Wisely choosing not to tempt fate, I exercised maximum prudence in all stages of the mission. About a minute ago, Kaldur had activated his camo cloak and dropped into the sea a fair distance from the shores of the island.
While we waited, he swam to said shores, evading the mines and making short work of the shark net that failed utterly in its duty. Inside the ship, we watched the blip representing his location on the holographic map pause on the beach near the identified SAMs for a bit before his voice came through.
"Scramblers deployed."
"Analyst, you getting this?" I said, reassuming control of the ship and driving it forward.
"Crystal clear sir. You are clear to approach. The security systems are under our control."
"Good," I said and accelerated, flying us toward the second dropzone. "Aqualad, we're moving to dropzone B. Make your way to the factory, we'll meet you there."
"Affirmative. Moving now."
I brought the ship to a stop after a few seconds, right above another plane, one that was well hidden in dense foliage. Wally undid his seatbelt and stood up, smiling and stretching as he walked toward the empty floor space in the spot between my seat and that of the passengers'.
"Finally, some action," he said and walked toward the opening hatch, the sliding and shifting panels letting the scent of the jungle funnel into the ship's interior.
"Remember, disable them quietly. Do not engage the patrols, and rendezvous at the factory when you're done."
"No problemo," he gave me a mock salute before hitting the emblem on his chest, the gesture turning him invisible. "These clowns won't see what hit them," he voice echoed before his hazy silhouette jumped down the hatch.
I shut it with a tap on my dashboard and started moving again, heading toward dropzone C.
Right after this mission was assigned to us, I had Mike obtain previous satellite scans of the island, comparing them to the one Batman used in his briefing.
Through that we not only discovered the planes the cult used to get on to the island en masse, we identified where Bane's crew had run to after Kobra kicked them out of their own home.
Though now that I thought about it, how did the cult get past the island's various sensors? It was either they deployed something similar to what we did or they used some other means.
If it was the first, Mike would've notified me if he found another presence in the system. As for the second possibility, I didn't even attempt to waste any brain cells on it. Kobra had evaded Batman and the League long before I arrived in this world.
Even after I informed Batman about them eventually coming to the island to produce Kobra-Venom en-masse, he still had problems tracking them down. The cult and its members were that good at hiding and covering their tracks.
It was only Batman's periodic checks of Santa Prisca and his persistent efforts to track them down that led to the discovery of their presence here and subsequently, this mission.
That in itself was suspect. To me at least.
When you added them suddenly revealing themselves to the fact that the cult had somehow subverted the island's security—security that we ourselves had subverted—and subjugated Bane in a single night, you got yourself a situation that screamed coincidence.
This cascade of thoughts threatened to morph into a spiral of endless what ifs, but I clamped down and focused on the facts, on what we knew for sure.
The cult was on the island in force. About forty of them, all here to do something for their leader and by extension, The Light. Bane was also here, somewhere, either with his men or in hiding.
For now, we knew the location of most of them. The Zephyr's powerful scanners had revealed as much. And since I wanted to remove as many unknowns as I could from this treacherous board, I was sending Arsenal and Superboy to go and handle them.
Bane's henchmen were too close to the factory's secret entrance for my liking, so the two of them were going to make sure none of them ended up where they weren't supposed to be, especially when we confirmed that Kobra-Venom was indeed being produced here.
As for the matter of Bane, whether he was with his men or not didn't make any difference. Arsenal and Superboy by themselves could wipe the floor with him even with their eyes closed. I had nothing to worry about on that front.
Dropping these two off was a silent affair. They simply nodded and leapt down the opened hatch, Roy demonstrating the result of weeks of practice as he skied down the air like one would with roller skates on a slope.
Ron… well, he just jumped straight down, activating the repulsorlifts when he was about a meter or so from the ground and deactivating it when his momentum got arrested. This turned what would've been a cannon shot into a love tap, the noise of his landing swallowed up by the hubbub of the jungle.
With the rest of the team out there doing their part, the matter of investigating the facility fell to me and Rob. Before we arrived at our destination, he unbuckled his seatbelt and stood behind me, watching the large screen, the facility growing larger by the second, and a couple of readouts.
The original plan had been to stop the Zephyr right above the factory and go from there, but I frowned and changed my mind, deciding that some distance between it and my baby is what was best.
Of course, the main reason behind that decision was the light tingle of Spider Sense that hadn't stopped since I set eyes on the building.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Rob asked, likely confused as to why I'd deviated from the plan.
"Something's up," I said and examined the results of the latest scan. It was still just cultists in the building.
"We'll go from here."
"When you say something's up…"
"It means exactly what you think it means…" I replied, unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up, using the link my watch had with the ship to open the hatch.
"Mike, take over things from here. You'll be watching our backs in case something happens. Only move on my mark."
"Noted, sir."
While the spot the rest of the team had jumped through opened itself to us, panel by panel, I thought about what could possibly put Spider Sense on alert like this and quickly chalked it up to The Light.
They had incurred too many losses due to my presence and actions, and their response to it had to be lackluster if you ask me. This had to be their way of striking back. Or it could be something else entirely.
One, the cult knew the island's security had a weakness but did nothing to patch it. That could be chalked up to nothing. One could say they did not expect anyone to know of their movements. They were crazy secretive after all.
Two, a whole group of them suddenly popping up after they'd managed to evade the world's greatest detective for months. This could be described as a coincidence if you were willing to stretch the meaning of the word.
Three, Spider Sense warning me to be careful. Now that changed things from coincidence and elevated this to trouble. Something was in there, and it had been prepared for us, or more likely, me.
None of that mattered in the slightest though. Whatever monster the Light had dusted off or cobbled together in their latest, hairbrained scheme, I was going to get what we were sent here for.
Even if it was the worst they had to offer, I'd face it head on and win. Just like I did with Blockbuster.
"Change of plans," I said to Rob. "We don't go in separately. Not anymore. We go together. You lead, I'll follow."
For a moment, he looked startled, like he couldn't believe his ears, but he schooled his expression pretty quickly, the blank lenses of his domino mask returning to their normal proportions.
"Okay. You're the boss," he smiled and vanished, the light brush of wind telling me he'd jumped down.
Going invisible as well, I took a step forward and dropped, body going ramrod straight. Damp earth and leafy green flooded my nostrils on the descent, the chill of the night registered in my HUD but not in my body.
Right before I hit the tree line, I woke up the lifts in my boots and got reacquainted with the unusual sensation of riding against gravity. Quickly easing myself into it, I let my enhanced agility and focused mind guide my movements and soon I was cruising.
Sliding both feet forward one after the other like I was on ice, the trees below me blurred past and I caught up to Rob, my longer legs and consequently, longer stride letting me bridge the short gap between us pretty easily.
Overtaking him would be a cakewalk, but that wasn't the plan. He was the expert on stealth. I was the one following him to learn everything Batman had taught him and also keep him safe when the inevitable shit hit the fan.
With the wealth of information and fantastic gadgets we had on hand, making a silent and undetected ingress into the facility came easy, same as locating the control room with the computers that controlled everything in the facility.
Rob and I dropped gently from the ceiling, our descent stopping when our feet were about an inch from the concrete floor. The tingle in the back of my head had ramped up, but not to painful levels.
Placing a firm hand on Rob's shoulder, I told him to wait and scanned the building again.
"Same as before sir. There are no changes."
I stifled the urge to curse and let go of Rob. "Be careful. There's something here…"
He must've sensed the graveness in my tone, because his own movements became less eager as he approached the cultist typing away at the computer. Slowly but surely, he floated forward and I went higher, looking through the room's observation panels at the floor below.
Once he entered striking distance, his hand disappeared into his cape and the incessant tingle turned into a full on throb that actually hurt. The usual sharpening of mental and physical processes happened, but actual movement failed to occur.
Something had frozen me in place, leaving my eyes to flick about in alarm. I tried everything, exerted all my strength, deployed the forcefield, unleashed all the kinetic energy my suit had built up. Nothing worked to free me or even loosen this infernal hold.
Even the mechanical spider legs failed to deploy.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Rob, and he was in the same situation as me. "Rob—" I called out with my mind, only to get interrupted when the air near the still oblivious cultist shimmered.
A smug smile sitting on his long face, a man with deep set eyes revealed himself, startling the die hard Kobra believer.
Felix Faust. I'd recognise those purple robes and head dress anywhere. So this was magic. Then that means…
Even when the cultist jolted in his seat and cursed, the sorcerer responsible for Tala's imprisonment kept his eyes fixed on me and walked forward, his steps relaxed yet confident.
"Send the word. The rats are in hand."
"Huh?" the cultist uttered and looked about, finding nothing. "The fuck are you talking about?"
A sliver of frustration affected his smile, but Faust schooled his expression and gestured with both arms before spreading them wide. A purple wave of energy washed over the small room and my HUD registered the cloak in my suit being disabled.
Bullshit. Bullshit magic.
The cultist's eyes grew wide when he saw me, but when he laid eyes on Rob he actually staggered back a bit, shocked by how close we'd gotten. Quickly getting a hold of himself, he spun and dropped in his seat, leaning forward before beginning to type furiously.
A thought zeroed in on the EMP in my belt, but all I got for my efforts was an error in my HUD, saying it failed to deploy. Right after that, my orientation began to change, going lower and lower until I was level with Faust.
"So you are the one who took my dear Tala," he said, holding both hands outstretched toward me, whatever he was doing pulling me closer. "Now why would you go and do that?"
It was now or never. The gigantic white glowstick of the Soulsword appeared in my locked grip, a third of it disappearing into the floor. Come on. Move! Move!
"Oh, what do we have here?" Faust shifted his gaze away from me, He looked at the sword with growing interest, his expression confused but enraptured at the same time.
"It feels like magic, like the soul, but also something more… you, are full of surprises young man."
"SP. Tell me you have a plan."
"Sir."
'All of you shut up,' I screamed in my head, my thoughts moving at light speed. Faust said the sword was magic but also not at the same time. Of the many tests I'd done with the sword, never once had I channeled magic into it.
"Inform the League and warn the others," I said to Mike, before shifting attention to Rob. "I'm about to try something. Be ready."
Reality zoomed into focus all of a sudden. Faust was reaching for the sword, the white light illuminating his face that had been mired in greed. I tapped into the well I sensed when I first went to Providence, mentally imagining a pathway that went down my arm into the sword.
The energy eagerly responded and flowed, and when it touched the sword, a brand new awareness opened up to me. In a manner all too similar to my ability to shift the island, I felt I could do the same with the sword. I didn't hesitate.
From its discount excalibur position in the concrete, the giant sword spun upward in a single swift motion, carving a trail of white light as it sliced through the foul sorcerer from crotch to head, leaving no visible injury.
However, just because it was bloodless didn't mean it did not exist.
"URAAGHHH!"
Faust screamed, a guttural thing that assaulted the ears before crumpling where he stood. While he painfully passed into the throes of forced sleep, I stretched my unrestricted arm forth and caught the Soulsword, winding my arms and shoulders.
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