Life Ore Death
*October 23 [Robin PoV]
This wasn't the most complicated sting I had run on a bunch of crooks, nor the one with the highest stakes or the worst criminals, but I agreed with all the others that it was the one I most wanted to
work right now, and see these guys in the slammer for the rest of their lives.
It was also the biggest one I'd run without Batman, but it wasn't like we had no backup. Aqualad had made a bunch of calls, and Captain Atom had given the OK for everything he heard about the plan after he stopped glowing. '
The guy has a strong sense of justice.'
'
Or maybe Miss Martian's right and there's something else going on, because I still don't know where we got the tip that Adams was innocent in the first place….'
I put it to the side and focused on sneaking around to get to the next bomb Rois had planted with his dead man's switch. I wasn't sure what they all were going to get out of this – Yarrow or the mercenaries (they might have been Uzbecki? I couldn't quite tell,) or Rois – but they'd laid this trap and the Team was going to strangle them with it. We'd leave no room for doubt when we dragged it out.
[
We begin in five, four, three, two, one.]
"Well, if it isn't the estimable Lois Lane," Henry Yarrow announced casually as our Team walked in the front door of the aircraft hangar, Lois Lane front, center, and smugly serious. "I hope you weren't expecting your boyfriend to rescue you; he's on the Pacific coast."
"Old man, you've got a lot to learn about a self-made woman," she mocked back. Aqualad, Superboy, and Ferris stood in a triangle formation around her, still disguised. The visible mercenaries leveled their guns at the four.
Artemis and KF were the other two sneaking around the back and sides of the hangar; she'd been trained by Sportsmaster, and he'd had some lessons from Batman with me, so they were the best choices. Zee was hanging back as mission control and arranging distractions.
"Well you've got a lot to learn about modern espionage. We've had bugs on all four of your teams for hours," Yarrow replied. "You aren't getting out of this, I'm afraid. Hate to hurt a dame, but you do what you do." Which we knew was a lie: we only had three teams.
"You're not the first to tell me that. Truth is," Lois Lane informed him with a confident shrug, "I only showed up here on a drunk tip from Mason. She'd been getting sentimental in her old age. Wouldn't have expected her to commit suicide while sober. I guess you didn't either, since you sent your boy Rako after her." Lois Lane examined the picture airily, then looked back to the people standing around. "I'm going to say: the spook Alec Rois, Rako is the boy here, and you would be General Duk Trang?" she assessed of the faces present.
"I would indeed, dear lady," the old man rasped. "I hope, Yarrow, you will permit me a small foible, and get the lady's autograph before you do… whatever it is you have planned. I'm quite the fan."
"Isn't everyone just," Yarrow griped. "You've clearly called in some favors to make up for the lack of Kryptonians in the building-," I stifled a laugh as I snipped another charge's wire, and I heard Superboy give an angry huff. "-but it isn't enough. Here's the deal, Miss Lane: General Trang has more than a dozen armed men on guard here. My friend Alec also favors quantity over quality, especially when it comes to explosives, and his dead man's switch will level the hangar and all of us with it if you try anything. Rako is set with our specialty x-ionized equipment, capable of surviving said explosion and cutting your Kryptonian boyfriend in half, on the off-chance he does make it here."
[
X-ionization is, I think, what it was that made Vertigo's sword sharp enough to take my arm. Now I want double dibs,] Ferris declared.
[
As agreed, you have priority to engage Rako, so long as you keep him from disrupting any of the rest,] Aqualad reassured her.
"I'm surprised you mentioned that dead man's switch so openly. C'mon, mercenaries, are all of you really willing to die for this scumbag's glory?" Lois made a show of looking around the hangar, counting up all the guards the other side hadn't yet noticed we'd taken out, and how many remained, judging how long to play this charade out. "No one is having second thoughts about turning state's evidence? You all aren't guilty as sin of falsifying a trial and framing an innocent man, the way they are. No? No one?" Duk Trang laughed.
"Never rely on a man who fights for money," he wheezed. "Smart ones know they cannot spend it in the grave, and stupid men are not worth the prices you pay them. We have expanded our operations over the years, Miss Lane. Everyone here is willing to die."
I took the moment to pounce and do my nifty disappearing trick on one of the gunmen in the back, tying him up and taking him out before he could get a sound off. [
I've got all my quota of creeps and then some,] I reported.
[
I think 'Phase 2: Snuffed,' is good to go. I can try again, but the only way to test it isn't the best. Shall we keep going?] Zee asked.
[
Let us,] Aqualad agreed. [
Proceed to Phase Three.]
"Willing to die, willing to kill, willing to frame innocent men and shatter families," Lois Lane mocked him. "I'll wager Adams wasn't even the worst you've managed over the years." I took a break to sit back and watch the action.
[
I've got all the bombs in this section, too. You guys?] I sent.
[
Ready Freddie,] KF sent out.
[
I've disarmed all of mine,] Artemis affirmed. [
We can proceed to 4 or 5 whenever you want, Aqualad.]
"No," Yarrow defended sourly, "Nate was the worst of it. No one else has been smart enough and straight enough to pose a risk. It helped that we had to cut down our activities until after the end of the war, too, but he was one hell of a guy."
"He saved your life, so you drugged his drink, and ran him through a sham trial? Way to treat 'one hell of a guy.' Heck, with all the people involved, why even bother with the trial, Yarrow? Why not just shoot him and say you had the trial? Why bother with his defense?"
"To throw suspicion off, of course. It wasn't like we had everyone in on it. Not possible, what with the records to be filed, the court's reporter, the other soldiers who attended, the guards while Nate was imprisoned… And, well, maybe it was a bit idealistic….
"I always had this hope in the back of my mind to make up some new evidence," Yarrow mused, "or have another loyal follower in the right position 'confess' to having been responsible for the murder. My favorite idea would've been to kill Blankly four or five years after, and include the confession in his suicide note. Get Nate out and free, with a more realistic sense of the way the world really works.
"Blankly was dead weight if ever a man was, but Nate… oh, they broke the mold after they made him. Working on the smart side, he could've passed me up, maybe taken the ring over himself, expanded out even further. Never expected him to kick it after only a year."
[
He actually sounds sad,] I broadcast, awed at the gall of this guy. '
Heck, if I'm feeling that, I can only imagine how turbed everyone else is not, hearing this load of-! I really hope no one blows anything up.'
[
I've known some sick fucks, but I thought Dad took the cake on the military side for his dishonorable discharge and treason. He'd fit right in here, though. This is sick,] Artemis sent, probably by accident since she wouldn't want to talk about her dad to us.
[
Focus, Team,] Aqualad sent before someone (like KF) could add on to what Artemis let slip.
"You're clearly never going to realize that being incorruptible was what made him so great to begin with," Lois spat. "I'm going to see you locked away for the rest of your miserable life, Yarrow."
"You and what army, Miss Lane?" he challenged.
"The United States Army,
you miserable traitor," growled General Wade Eiling as he stepped out from under Zee's invisibility.
I cackled: the look on their faces was absolutely priceless. His arctic gaze had everyone taking a step back in shock, even half of our side.
[
Now.]
Zee must've uttered her next incantation, because a second after that, the room changed. The eight still-conscious gunmen and four remaining conspirators were now outnumbered 2-to-1 by two dozen Special Forces soldiers. Gun barrels were leveled at everyone in the room – except for Rako – from multiple directions; there were even two guys up on the catwalk to pincer Yarrow from the sides.
Worst of all, from one point of view, were the three people behind General Eiling, standing with Zatanna. Peggy Eiling's cheeks were stark white, as were the knuckles of her clenched fists, and a single line of blood dripped from where she bit her lip. Randy Eiling had drawn his own sidearm, but couldn't decide which of the available targets he wanted to kill first; both his cheeks were wet with tears.
Behind the two of them, Captain Atom had readied an ugly orange aura around both of his fists. His metallic face was hard as a statue's; my instincts told me that if we hadn't read him in on what we discovered beforehand, he would have already attacked; he was
not traught.
"
Hah! Well then!" Rako yelled, trusting his armor to protect him from the bullets as he charged to cut down the biggest threat.
We'd predicted he would try that, which is why none of the guns were aimed at him.
After all, Ferris had called dibs.
She slid into his path with a cocky smile, and turned Rako's swing aside by brushing her bare hand against the flat of the blade.
He tried to just charge over her anyway, relying on his strength and the momentum behind his armored weight to-
'
Not happening,' I knew without even needing to watch as I flipped onto the catwalk with Yarrow, who was still distracted by watching all his work to mantle this thing into his aster get totally dissed by our counter-plotting.
He was totally chalant about it, all in the worst way, eyes bulging and jaw dropped to let in the flies.
"Where did you-?" Rois shouted as KF buzzed over to hold his hand down on the trigger – better safe than sorry in case we missed any of the charges, after all. Three arrows struck true, wrapping General Trang in a net and gluing down the two soldiers fast enough on the draw to pull their triggers.
Not that they hit anything, since Zee had cast a previously worked out, 'On seiraidnecni etanoted, on snug erif, on snoisolpxe, on noitsubmoc ni siht aera,' spell before she started playing with her fancier illusions.
Below us, another arrow glued KF and Rois's hands to the trigger with foam, except KF just shucked out of his glove to escape.
I kicked the gun out of Yarrow's hand and started kicking his ass. A yell confirmed- '
Yup, Rako just discovered that he hasn't got what it takes to tackle Ferris with her iron-minds. And holy cannoli with macaroni, she is owning him.'
Our eldest Teammate was making a flat-out fool of Rako in his attempt at a fight, spinning him in rings as she ghosted just out of reach from his slashes, turning some of them aside with her bare hands, and darting in once every few exchanges to-
"Whoa, this is totally appointing to watch," I admitted as I bound Yarrow's wrists behind his back. A fourth piece of samurai armor clattered to the cement floor as she ducked back with a joyous laugh, and Rako spat curses at her as he swung more wildly. I just boggled.
'
She's getting in his range and unfastening the clasps on his armor mid-attack, just toying with him as she leads him around.'
Rako roared and way overcommitted, so she threw him with a judo move I'd taught her. Seeing that bit felt really good.
Watching it, I was positive she was tapping her metal-minds, but instead of going totally overwhelming on his ass, she was staying whelmed and maintaining the aster at a pace just within what humans might or might not be capable of, managing her tap rates perfectly.
Her judo throw could have ended the fight, but Ferris was going for humiliation instead, so it only cost Rako three more pieces of armor. I saw where they both were positioned in the warehouse, even as I threw a disc at the last guy Superboy, Aqualad, Artemis, and KF weren't subduing down on the floor, and I knew immediately how she was planning to end the fight. I watched eagerly: it was too good to miss.
There was a support beam between them, and she led Rako's horizontal slash straight through it when he retaliated for her undoing the catches that held his breastplate to his chest. She danced around him, leading him spinning in a ring as he hacked at her, tearing away the other nearby pillar with a lazy backhand, and darting in to pluck the samurai helmet from his head before she slipped back.
Rako tried to follow her, his revealed face sporting an ugly scowl. '
Huh, he looks older than I would've guessed.'
Bereft of support, the stacked boxes and the walkway above crashed down on Rako's newly helmetless head.
He went down hard enough to concuss under the collapse, and groaned. It took effort, but Rako used the last of his strength to work partway free, only to end up staring down the blade of his own sword. Ferris's bright smile was almost childlike in its glee.
He slumped down, hopeless, and stayed down.
"No burning necessary," she announced proudly, as I dragged Yarrow down to the others.
"Dne lleps," Zee sighed, and I wished I could be there to catch her when she staggered, exhausted.
'
You have your own girl,' I directed grumpily at Superboy, but I was still grateful someone had got her before she fell.
The guys on the other side – those who were still in any state to notice – all had very disturbed expressions on their faces, once they realized the two-dozen soldiers had vanished because they were never there in the first place.
It was practically giving me warm fuzzies, to see the 'superstitious, cowardly, criminal scum' of the world get some comeuppance.
'I gotta wonder if Renka's milder sadism has been rubbing off on me. …And guys, if I broadcast that, please don't make any of the tasteless jokes we're all thinking of. I know that was a suggestive choice of words; it was an accident.' No response
. 'Phew. Great. And, incoming.'
I realized our four guests were heading my way with Randal in the lead, a scowl on his face every bit as nasty as I'd ever seen on Batman outside of That Time Of The Year, and I really hoped we wouldn't have to find out whether Zee's spell was still stopping his gun, too.
"You-!" Randal snarled, pressing the sidearm to Yarrow's temple. I wouldn't've let him get that far if Captain Atom hadn't given me a signal to stay out of it, and I was still tempted to disobey. "You
foul,
miserable,
excuse of a-! I ought to
shoot you where you stand, it'd be a damn public service. You ruined my family, widowed my mother- Peggy
never knew our father because of you, and I've spent most of my god-damned life damning the man who should have been the biggest hero in my life. I'm going to smear your shit-for brains across the-,"
"
Enough, son," General Eiling declared, clapping a hand down on Randal's shoulder. "…Randy," he amended awkwardly, to fill the silence that followed. "I… He isn't worth it. Leave him alive, to prove that the laws and courts he made a mockery of – that he made me make a mockery of-," General Eiling's voice rasped with an angry growl, "-are still worth something, and still can bring some justice in this world."
"I…" Randal trailed off, and if Batman hadn't given me training I'd have backed off and risked leaving my prisoner unattended just to escape the awkwardness. I soft titter from Ferris reached my ears, and I just knew she was loving this. She'd never denied it was a reason for her idea to bring the Eilings, even if she'd had plenty of other good reasons to offer. "You're right. And, I didn't mean to-,"
"I know what you meant, Randy."
"…Call him son," Captain Atom suggested slowly. "You've certainly raised two good children, Eiling." He forced a laugh, probably feeling as awkward as the rest of us. "Well, this is the twenty-first century, or so I'm told. It's not as rare as back in our day to have two fathers, now."
General Eiling let out a little huff of not-quite-laughter. His smile fell off as he stepped up to address Yarrow. "Henry Yarrow, I will see you stripped of every merit you have earned in the service, disgraced with every dishonor I can name. I swear by every
sight I have seen of you over the years,
you will be paid what you are owed for this." Maybe he was just too knocked around, but this entirely failed to cow Yarrow.
Peggy stepped up when the General stepped back, and drew up her knee for a kick.
At that, I unfortunately had to intervene, hand snapping out to stop the hit.
She flailed a bit when she overbalanced. Randal caught her, and she turned the full force of her glare on me instead.
"It's not that I don't think he deserves it," I babbled quickly, keeping my hold on her ankle, "but there's the risk your heel might put out one of his eyes, and take it from me, that stuff
never comes out. You really think he's worth one
tenth of what you paid for those shoes?"
I let her go. She kept her foot up for a moment, considering if she wanted to kick his ribs instead; I would've let her. Peggy put it down instead, then she pulled back a fist, but frowned and didn't swing. Finally, she hacked up a wad and spat, clear and straight in his face.
"I don't even want to touch the turd," was all she said before she turned away.
"Then you can please hold the Lasso, and I will get him ready to question," Ferris instructed as she breezed into the middle of the group, dropping a shimmering, gold coil of rope into General Eiling's arms. "The Ultra-Humanite had much to tell, and I want to know if the weapon ring is connected to the other criminals. What do you think, General? Who do you think Yarrow was working for? The Shadows?"
General Eiling first finished typing in a message on his phone with a scowl, having passed the shimmering rope to Randal as quickly as she had to him, before he answered. "We should have military police arriving in ten minutes, or I'll have their guts for garters. I think that, unfortunately, as the law is still unclear on the efficacy of magic in interrogations, we would be better to wait on that front."
"Oh?" Ferris wondered, not stopping from what she was doing.
"I've presided over far too many stupid mistrials, where guilty-as-hell bastards walked free for a small error, to want to put another judge in that situation. Feh,
mistrial." He growled the word like it was an obscene oath, and Ferris paused in her manhandling of Yarrow.
"…Okay, yes, I will wait to interrogate," she said. Eiling nodded to agree, and he stepped up again.
"Scumbag, you made me put away an innocent man and ruin a family. I-," General Eiling's voice cracked, but I was a bit preoccupied. "You've damn near-! When I figured out who I was dating by whatever twisted whim of fate, telling Angela I'd been the one to as good as give her late husband the death sentence was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I was all but praying Adams was guilty – I have been for years – and now you've gone and almost made me relieved, because I won't have to live with her deserved
hate after telling her about this!"
Captain Atom stepped up and put a bracing hand on General Eiling's shoulder, pulling the man back.
"Angela was a good women, and she always brought out the goodness in others. She'd lay the blame square where it belongs, with Yarrow, and if anyone dares say otherwise, they'll answer to me," avowed the metal-skinned man, clenching his own metal fist.
Off to the side, I saw Ferris give shallow a nod to Aqualad, and I knew what it was about.
[
Did anyone else catch that, or just Ferris and me?] I checked grimly.
[
I noticed it to. I wish I could read their minds, but Uncle J'onn told me when I still lived on Mars about him giving some lessons on resisting telepathic intrusion to a handful of government agents. I doubt it'll work, and not without noticing, and all those issues.]
[
I've heard it's since blown into a requirement for anyone above a certain security clearance to be able to recognize and repel telepathy up to a certain level,] Artemis finished. [
Not certain about that, but better not to risk it yet.]
[
All that means, is that only our work here is done,] Aqualad emphasized. [
Zatanna.]
[
On it.] "Peels," she said aloud to one of the prisoners, and he slumped over. "Peels dna od ton ekaw niaga yadot."
"You've always been a wise man," General Eiling commented philosophically. Then, "Well, as another wise man once said: 'The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is today.' I think that should hold true for righting other wrongs as well."
"General," Captain Atom began uncertainly, but Eiling waved him off.
"Peels. Peels litnu eht txen gninrom," Zee continued in the background.
"May I?" Ferris suggested, offering to take over Yarrow. I shook my head, because I wanted to stick around now, and guarding him was the only excuse I had to be here, listening in on this, so Ferris slipped away to where Rois, Rako, and Trang were held.
"Captain, I believe you've met both Randal and Peggy before? At least in passing, a time or two, at military parties and events."
"Oh, yes," Randal answered instead. "Captain, thank you for letting us use the Justice League's teleporters so we could be here."
"Peels. Peels eht elohw thgin yawa."
"It was worth it. Horrible, but one way or another, I'll remember this for the rest of my life." Peggy spat a wad onto Yarrow again. "Thank you… Captain Scott, I remember? Cameron Scott? You gave me your name at that- I forget, was it a Veteran's support function?"
"Peels," Zee said, putting the last of the hired guns to sleep. "Peels rof evlewt sruoh."
"I hadn't heard about that," General Eiling rumbled, but shook the thought away. "Still, as it happens, the story of how Captain Atom came to gain his powers is not what is commonly known." Captain Atom looked like he couldn't decide whether or not he wanted to run.
[
I want it on the record that I called this, and you guys are doing my dishes the next month,] M'gann sent, going from Lois to JAG form.
"Peels," Zee commanded Rako. "Peels dna maerd fo ruoy doohdlihc." She shook her head, looking pretty tired from the casting.
"In sixty-five, one of the less ethical programs our nation made the mistake of starting up – although I can't say it was a total mistake, now can I – offered condemned criminals shortened sentences in exchange for undergoing tests they were unlikely to survive, in the hopes of developing a reliable super-soldier serum." I held back a swallow gasp. "There were no reliable successes, but a few tries worked."
"Peels," Zee cast on Duk Trang. "Peels dna maerd fo ruoy modeerf." She turned at last to Alec Rois, lips pressed together.
"I would have objected to the risk of giving criminals such powers, but now… I realize this must come as a shock, but we have the rest of the day to come to terms with it, and the rest of our lives after that. Peg-leg, Randy, I would like to introduce the two of you to Captain Atom, formerly Captain Nate Adams, your birth father." A flash left behind the man whose picture we had seen, white haired, uncertain.
"Peels," Zee finished firmly. "Peels dna maerd fo ruoy epacse."
