ISSUE #1 (December 2018)
Written by John Cheese Featuring: Aztek
King Faraday
Hummingbird
Batman
Cold Warrior
Green Flame
Congorilla
Sandman
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"Dawn of Justice"Amity, Oregon
"You've been a bad man Rodriguez." The figure dressed in red stated as he loomed over the Latino man dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, his leg trapped in a bear-trap. "Even if we ignore the fact you’re here illegally, you had the audacity to steal in my city!" "Please I'll pay the shopkeeper back!" Rodriguez cried as the figure in red removed a butcher's knife from the sheath on his leg. "Please don't kill me!" "Who do you think I am Rodriguez?" The figure in red asked as he hunched down next to the trapped man. "I'm not merciless, I'm compassionate, I know that it's society's fault that people like you exist. That's why I'm punishing them for your crimes!" He hissed as he stood up and walked behind the dumpster before dragging a cool box out into the open. "See," He stated as he flicked the lid open to reveal a pile of frozen hands, "this is the price of stealing!" "Oh, fuck no!" Rodriguez cried as the man in red removed a trio of hands. "That's my wife's wedding ring, what did you do!?" "Interesting," The figure in red hissed, "I thought your most violent reaction would be to your nephews’ hands." He mused as he removed a pudgy tiny hand, one that looked as if it belonged on a baby. "Monster!" Rodriguez snarled. "Wrong I'm the hero, me Bloodtype!" The man in red hissed as he threw the hands back into the cooler. "You could be!" A voice announced as a white and gold blur streaked down into the back alley. "But this isn't the way." The newcomer dressed in a white bodysuit with gold accents, and a crown like helmet of spines announced as he landed in the alley. "Aztek!" Bloodtype snarled as the newcomer strode over to the trapped man and wrenched the trap open with his bare hands. "Your naive view of this city is what's killing those worth saving!" "What about those who are so desperate that they resort to crime?" Aztek asked as he helped Rodriguez to his feet prompting Bloodtype to remove his rifle from his shoulder. "What crime is this man response for that you decided to take your 'justice' out on his family?" "He stole baby formula from a struggling shop-keeper!" Bloodtype replied as a man dressed in a trench coat, holding a gun walked down the street. "Who the fuck are you?! "King Faraday, Checkmate." Faraday replied as he kept his weapon trained on Bloodtype. "Drop it Gordon, or I'll drop you." "Please Mr Faraday, Bloodtype is a dangerous man. While his methods were extreme, recently he’s got a lot worse and a lot more unpredictable." Aztek pleaded as he put himself between Rodriguez, Bloodtype and Faraday. “Please let me deal with this situation so no further bloodshed needs to occur.” "Then deal with this situation." Faraday ordered as he kept his gun aimed roughly at where Bloodtype had been. "Mr Rodriguez take this, it's not much," Aztek said as he handed the man a coin pouch. "Pay the shopkeeper back and then head to the free clinic and ask for Joy Page, she'll help you." He added before turning to Bloodtype, the vigilante already in motion, the butt of his rifle slamming into Aztek's face. Before he could respond Aztek watched Agent Faraday fire, electricity coursing through Bloodtype's body until he dropped to the floor unconscious. "Thank you." Aztek stated as he looked down at Bloodtype's grisly collection of severed hands in the cooler. "He's never been that bad before, but recently his aggressive streak has been magnified to the point where he’s more dangerous than most of the criminals on the street. I’ve tried to talk him out of some of his more extreme actions, even tried to arrest him but…" "I didn't come to talk about him." Faraday announced. "Right now, you have the highest approval rate of any hero in the country. In fact, for a long time you were running second right behind Superman. And from what I saw today it's well deserved, even if you don't quite understand the world." "I understand it enough, the people who trained me..." "I know about the Q Society and their narrow focus, trust me, you haven't seen anything of what the world really is like outside of some Andean enclave, a few airports and Amity city limits." "So why are you here, what are you offering?" Aztek asked. "What you've been pushed towards your entire life." Faraday replied with a smile. "Greater things." Bowing his head slightly Aztek nodded and walked to the end of the alley as Faraday crouched down next to Bloodtype. “Listen to me scum. The boy scout thinks you can change, but I know better, get ready to make the most of your very short life, because where you’re going people don’t take kindly to vigilantes!” Horizon Point, California The blonde-haired woman dressed in board shorts and a tank top supporting an image of the helmet of the former flash Jay Garrick looked at her feet, unwilling to meet her therapist's eye. "Miss Maxwell it's been twenty minutes since I asked my question." The therapist stated. "From that I can safely assume that you are not ready to talk about your sister's death." "I want to talk about it, but the other doctors, they got judgemental." Maxwell answered, still not daring to meet her questioners’ eye. "The Hub City Blitz is still fresh in a lot of people's minds; can you blame them for being a little hair - triggered about that Mary?" The therapist asked as there was a knock on the door. Getting to his feet the therapist opened the door before being led out, to be replaced by a man in a suit. "Where are you taking Doctor Merideath?" Mary asked as the man with the silver hair dressed in a grey suit sat down. "Dr Merideath has just been given a promotion and a new position at a prestigious Gotham institution." The man announced as he handed Mary his credentials. "King Faraday, Checkmate. I've come to talk about your movements prior to the Hub City Blitz. Turns out you've been all over this country; Opal City, Metropolis, Happy Harbour, Central City..." Faraday stopped as Mary just stared at him. "You're not in trouble, quite the opposite actually. Tell me how did you find Central City?" "It went okay." Mary answered as she handed Faraday his badge back. "We both know that's not true, you left, rather quickly may I add." Faraday stated as he handed her three photos. "Catalyst, Roxanne Sutton and Komodo, they were in the same cities as you, all dangerous, and all taken down by the woman in white." Faraday put a fourth photo down of a woman dressed in what looked like fencing gear complete with a motorcycle esque helmet and colourful streamers emerging from her back. "Do you know who Olivia Maxwell is?" Mary asked as she turned the photo of the woman in white over. "What she did?" "I know about her crimes as the costumed assassin Mayfly," Faraday replied as he turned the photo over, "just as I know that this woman is you, Hummingbird." "Not anymore." Mary replied sadly. "That stopped when the last member of my family died. See I concluded that there is a correlation between my family getting super powers and them dying, I aim to buck the trend." "That's a shame, your referees in Central City had good things to say about you despite your speed coming from a variable outside the Speed Force." Faraday sighed as he got up from the chair. "Your sessions over, I've got places to be, can you say the same?" "What did they say?" Mary asked quietly. "That you would be an excellent candidate for my operation. That you would make your father and your sister proud" Faraday told her as he turned his back on Mary, the young woman vanishing in a blur of white energy. Turning around he saw the woman in white, Hummingbird, standing behind him. "Where do you need me?" Bat Cave, Gotham City The bat computer lit up the dark space as it scanned the murder weapon from Vortex's latest killing, one Robert Teller, an adult film star working on his latest and last dirty masterpiece in the heart of Gotham's Burnley district. Sitting in the darkness the brooding figure of the Batman stared straight at the images of the letters carved in all three of the victims’ chests. "Vortex, what would have drawn you here?" Batman asked as he watched the computer compare various types of decaying energy field with what it had found on the chiselled brick that had been use to kill the last victim. "Are you looking to get caught, have you got cocky evading the rest of the League? " He mused before stopping himself, there was no more Justice League, he and the mysterious 'Titan' had made sure of that. He felt no guilt over his part in the matter, in the end sacrifices must be made to achieve justice. It seemed he was the only one who thought like that. The computer chimed a warning that it had finished its work, revealing that there was nothing special about the brick. Nothing save the fading diamagnetic field that had shaped the brick into a weapon. "Zebra-Man, but this isn't his MO." Batman half gasped and half snarled. "You're a thief not a serial killer, what changed since your escape from Arkham." "What indeed?" The same voice from the night before asked over Batman's cowl. "What indeed." Belle Reve, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana King Faraday stood outside the cell block main entrance as the guards led eleven of the twelve inmates away, one by one. "Cell block cleared, you are free to enter." The cell commander announced over the PA system as the electronic deadlock slid off the gate barring access into the prison. Entering the line of cells, Faraday winced as he past the cells, names such as Devil Ray, Professor Ojo or Pathfinder not inspiring much confidence in finding a hero in here. Coming to a stop he saw something bulky move in the one remaining occupied cell. "Yuri Tekynai AKA the Cold Warrior, former member of the Rocket Red Brigade, before that Alpha Group of the Spetsnaz. That's quite a fiction you've created regarding who you are." "It is not fiction, it is protection." Yuri answered as he shifted slightly. "And entering the US illegally was what exactly?" Faraday asked as he tried to determine who or what was in the cell. Surely the guards hadn't left the man his armour. "Also, protection, perhaps I shouldn't have brought two tons of battle suit with me or enough ordnance to flatten a small city, but it got me somewhere safe, somewhere contained." Yuri answered as one of the figures massive hands brushed against the wall. "You consider Belle Reve a safe environment." Faraday sighed as he looked at the file. "I know why you think it’s safe here, know what the enemy you really fear is, what the fiction and the armour is meant to protect against. I also know that you are a good person and that is not a fiction." "You know all that?" Yuri asked as he walked to the glass front of his cell, the red and white Rocket Red armour gleaming in the sunlight. "How?" "Because I tracked you all the way back to where you came from despite the cover you created to hide yourself." Faraday announced as he rested his hand on the lock on the cell door. "I saw the real you and your kindness, your honour, your attempts to do right by your people but I must ask something before we go any further." "Ask away." Yuri answered, his eyes focused on Faraday's face rather than his hands and the lock on the cell door. "Are you still that good person or are you Yuri Tekynai?" Faraday asked. Yuri thought for a moment before answering. "Da I am still that person inside." Seconds later Faraday opened the door and the massive figure dressed in the power armour stepped into the corridor. "Head to the door, I have one last thing to do." Faraday stated as the armoured man walked off, one of the guards outside the cell block buzzing him through as two more guards escorted a prisoner back in, his visible skin burnt, pitted with shrapnel wounds and broken with nasty looking cuts. "When I get out of here you'll rue the day you crossed me!" The prisoner hissed as he was thrown into Cold Warrior's now vacant cell. "When you get out?" Faraday mused as the man flung himself at the glass panel only for an implant in his neck to stun him, the jolt causing him to drop to all fours. "You're never leaving Bloodtype, you made sure of that!" New Orleans, Louisiana The woman dressed in green bustier and matching trousers decorated with hanging jewellery spun the baton until it became akin to a spinning wheel, one that combusted into green flame. The crowd applauded, and some even threw a few cent coins into the pot at the woman's feet. Blowing a few smoky hearts at the crowd, the woman watched as the watchers dispersed before bending down to inspect her takings. Throwing his badge into the pot, Faraday watched as the woman read the credentials and then stood up, her hands on her hips, her green lips pursed as if she was about to say something smart. "Beatriz da Costa, your work visa doesn't cover street performance, and certainly would be voided if you were discovered using your powers." Faraday announced as he shot the woman a grim smile. "And I doubt that they'd have let you into the country if they knew that you worked as a problem solver for the Brazilian government, Green Fury." "But you're not from the Department of Immigration are you Agent Faraday." Beatriz replied as she turned back to her equipment and wrapped up the batons she'd ignited. "I know your reputation and that of Checkmate and you don't get involved in petty matters like that, so what do you want." "You're hardly a petty matter Beatriz, you could be a severe threat to this nation's security." Faraday stated as he fished his badge from the change pot. "A great asset, not just to us but to the entire world." "I'm not doing any more covert missions, not for you, or the BIA or for anyone, not anymore." Beatriz answered as she picked up a half empty rum bottle and took a swig. "It wouldn't be covert, it would be overt ops. Ones tackling extra-normal threats." Faraday told her as he watched the young woman empty the rum bottle, green smoke rising from the sides of her mouth and nose. "No kill orders and no innocents targeted, at least by our side." "What if I refuse?" Beatriz asked. "Then I find someone else from my list, and you go back to scraping a living entertaining drunk tourist and going home with a different man each night." Faraday explained as he watched Beatriz wave the smoke out of her face. "Eventually Immigration will catch you and send you back to face trial for what you did in Manaus." "My question was rhetorical of course." Beatriz replied as she began to slot her equipment into a backpack decorated with a flame motif. "So, what do I call you since Green Fury is likely to attract the wrong kind of intention?" Faraday asked as Beatriz shouldered the backpack and tied her long green hair into a ponytail. "How about Green Flame?" Beatriz suggested with a smile as Faraday nodded slowly. "Green Flame, that will do." He answered as he looked westwards towards the setting sun. "That will do indeed." Amusement Mile, Gotham City "Which one should I kill first Bruce?" A voice asked as images flashed through the cowl. Batman recognised Dick Greyson lying on the floor of some Bludhaven alley, a rebar stabbed through his throat, blood pooling from the wound. "The first of your proteges, the so-called saviour of Bludhaven, Nightwing?" The image shifted to show Tim Drake, his body burning as the building he was in burst into flame. "Perhaps the Red Robin?" It suggested before a shot rang out and a body slumped across the bat signal before flopping to the floor. "Or your friend on the force Commissioner James Gordon? " "Maybe seeing a woman die like this so-called Batgirl will make you realise how serious this game of ours is Bruce?" It suggested as the image of the body of Stephanie Brown appeared floating in a swimming pool. "Maybe the death of the brute you keep just outside your circle of trust." It suggested as the head of the Red Hood swam into view, impaled on a stake. "Perhaps it'll be your son!" The voice snapped as the cowl HUD deactivated to reveal a Chinese woman dead on the ground next to him, her blouse torn open and a T carved into her skin. "Perhaps it'll be me?" Alfred stated causing Batman to shake his head. "What did you say Alfred?" Batman asked. "Nothing Sir, I was busy running facial recognition on the victim." Alfred replied a touch of concern creeping into his voice. "Are you alright Sir?" "I'll be fine, after I've caught the man responsible for this." Batman answered, his mind not on Vortex, but on whoever had decided to play this macabre game with him. West Haven, Connecticut "I'll take those." Agent Faraday told the mailman as he took the letters from him. "Friend of the family and all that." He added as he flashed his badge and headed up the path towards the cabin sitting in the woods. Knocking on the door, he waited, heard a shuffling sound and took a deep breath. "Go away!" An English accented voice ordered. "Bill it's me!" Faraday answered. "Huh, okay go away King, I'm not interested!" Bill replied as Faraday posted a letter through the door. "Nice try, but you're not getting in. I'm not interested in joining Checkmate no matter how many times you ask." "This isn't about Checkmate." King replied as he looked down at the mail he held. "Then what is it about?" Bill asked as he opened the door slightly to reveal part of an inhuman gold furred face. "This for starters." Faraday stated as he pulled a graphic novel from the stack of mail titled 'Nero and Hannigan - The Teeth of Sobek' at Bill. "Why are you reading this garbage?" "Only place for Superheroes is in the comics." Bill grunted as he went to close the door, only for Faraday to wedge the novel in the closing crack. "What about the Justice League?" Faraday asked. "They're not superheroes, heroes yes, but no better than policemen or ambulance drivers or anyone else putting their life on the line for the greater good." Bill stated as big simian fingers wrapped around the novel. "Plus, there isn't a Justice League at the moment." "And does the world seem safer for that?" Faraday asked, his question causing Bill to stop and look down at the cover of his novel. "No, it doesn't." Bill sighed. "But what can a sad old thing like me do about that? I can't even go outside anymore, people look at me and scream." "Honestly I don't know, but what I do know is that the Golden Gorilla was meant to be a force for good, regardless of whether people consider it a monster or not." Faraday stated as he pulled the door open to reveal a massive golden gorilla standing on the other side. "I won't force you to come out here, but I will say that what I have in mind is just what you were meant to do." "I'm sorry." Bill sighed as he gently closed the door behind him. "I am to." Faraday echoed as he walked away from the house, only for the door to creak open slightly. Turning he saw Bill look at the cover of his novel before ripping it in half and slamming his fist into the ground, anger evident on his face. "Wait!" Bill yelled as he ran down the path. "The world isn't any safer, but what would I know, I've been hiding away in a ten-year sulk ever since I moved here. I know I've been afraid to be this," He continued as he gestured to his gorilla body, "still am the one difference now is that I'm done being a coward. The old me wouldn't abide it, and now neither will the new one." Turtle Palms Retirement Home, Tampa Bay, Florida Wesley Dodds smiled as he saw King Faraday walk up the path to where he was sitting, his bag containing what he knew he needed tucked under the chair. "You're ten minutes late." He croaked as Faraday balled one of his fists before pointing a finger at Dodds. "And you're ten minutes early." Faraday replied as both men broke into laughter. Sitting in the seat next to Dodds, Faraday fished out a hip flask from his coat and handed it to the elderly hero. "I know why you're visiting, that old dream." Dodds stated as he took a sip from the flask. "I knew this was coming, I just didn't know when." He added as Faraday looked at the setting sun. "What is it?" "Just watch." Looking into the setting sun Dodds could pick out five figures walking out of the light before coming to a stop outside the care home. "It's wonderful. Dodds gasped. "Meet Congorilla, Hummingbird, Aztek, Green Flame and the Cold Warrior." Faraday announced as he went down the line of heroes. "They're good but they need some guidance, something I can only provide on an intermittent basis. They need you Wesley, you and the Sandman." "What do you call them, the team I mean?" "They're the..." |