TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2410 3:48 PM NEKOMIKOKA STANDARD TIME JUST OUTSIDE NEKOMIKOKA A phone rang in the forest. Geoff Depew reached into his coat and pulled it out. "Hello?" "Hello.... Geoff? Is that you?" Diana Prince's voice came from the phone, sounding a bit uncertain. "Yes, it is. Hello, Diana. How can I help you?" "Are you all right? You sound a little funny." "Well," he said, taking in his situation, "I'm currently suspended twenty feet above the ground by my left ankle. My blood's rushing to my head. It's a little uncomfortable, but nothing I can't deal with. What's up?" Back on New Avalon, Diana Prince looked at her phone, and then shrugged. "I was talking to the Chief, you see, about an associate of mine who went to, er, visit my family, and isn't back yet. I think something may be wrong and I intend to go and find out. He suggested I bring you along. He said you'd consider it 'a somewhat different class of training exercise'." "It sounds like it beats hanging upside down by my ankle. Where should I meet you?" "I'll get you on Tomodachi; it's close enough to on the way as to be easy." "All right, I'll meet you in Nekomikoka. See you then!" Geoff hung up and regarded his ankle again. There had to be a way out of Logan's snare without breaking any bones. I have a message from another time... /* Goo Goo Dolls "Long Way Down" _A Boy Named Goo_ (1995) */ Eyrie Productions, Unlimited presents UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES FUTURE IMPERFECT Special Assignment, Vol. 1, Number 78 "The Antianeira Incident" Geoff Depew Benjamin D. Hutchins (c) 2008 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited Diana's personal transport was a small aerospacecraft of a type entirely unfamiliar to Geoff. In configuration it was somewhere in that nebulous borderland between a heavy fighter and light bomber, big enough to have a crew cabin instead of a cockpit but small enough to operate from the hangar decks of most large starships. "I've never seen a ship like this before," Geoff noted as he came aboard. Strapping himself into the copilot's seat, he glanced discreetly around for manufacturers' insignia and saw none. "It's one of a kind," Diana told him. "My people have little use for spacecraft, since they don't leave our ancient homeland. Our finest craftswomen built this for me when I decided to go to New Avalon." She said little more until they cleared the Tomodachi metaspace gate and were underway, at which point she looked over to Geoff and saw him looking with a bemused expression at the settings on the navigation beacon tracking system. "Yes, Geoff, we're going to Earth," she said. "I didn't know you were from Earth." Geoff couldn't suppress a wry grin. "The authorities there aren't going to be very happy to see us." "They won't see us," Diana said. "Themysciran stealth technology is the finest in the galaxy. We have a long tradition of wishing to be unseen." Geoff ran through what he knew of Earth geopolitics. "I've never heard of Themyscira," he admitted after a few moments. "Judging by the name, I'm guessing it's somewhere in Greece." Diana smiled slightly. "Not exactly, but you're close. Themyscira is an island in the Atlantic. You see... " She considered for a moment, then sighed. "Well, if I'm taking you there, I suppose there's no reason not to tell you the whole story. My name isn't really Diana Prince. It's just Diana. On Themyscira, we don't have surnames. We don't need them, for in a sense we're all one great family. 'Prince' was my mother's idea of a joke, when I left home and needed to pass as a citizen of the patriarch's world." "... You lost me." "Well, I'm a princess, you see. My mother is Hippolyta - Queen of the Amazons." Geoff blinked. "I thought the Amazons were a myth." "Most people do. It's how we've survived for so long in a world that would be hostile to our ways... especially now." Geoff thought this over, then couldn't help but laugh. "What's funny?" Diana wondered. "Well," he explained, "when we met, one of my first thoughts was that you looked like a statue of a Greek goddess. I guess I wasn't as far off as I thought." Diana chuckled. "We're not goddesses, Geoff." Then, sobering, she added in a quieter voice, "I only wish we were." WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2410 1455 HRS COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME (UTC) The rest of the trip passed in silence. Geoff, sensing he might need it later, got as much sleep as he could, waking just as Diana slipped her invisible ship through the metagate orbiting Earth, deftly following in the wake of a bulk transport so that they wouldn't have to signal the gate themselves and leave a record of their arrival. They descended from orbit with all stealth systems engaged, entering the atmosphere of Earth at a careful angle to minimize the shockwave of entry. She brought it down, slowly, west of Africa, to barely a hundred yards above the surface of the Atlantic. As they skimmed along, Diana tapped some controls. "This will let us perceive Themyscira. Otherwise, it would be hidden from us, as it is from the patriarch's world." The sun was rising in the east over the great continents, and suddenly, with no warning, an island flickered into view. /* Nobuo Uematsu "Opening" _Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children_ (2005) */ From their perspective, it was what Geoff imagined that ancient Greece should have looked like - sweeping buildings of shining white stone and Doric columns, statues of women made of the same stone, wide swaths of forest, a mountain in the center of it. Diana took him for a circle around it, so he could see it all, and he asked, quite simply, "Why did you leave that paradise?" She didn't answer until the ship was set down in a little plaza, flanked by winged statues of women. "Because I was curious, and sometimes it's not a good idea to be curious in paradise." She shut down the systems. "Listen, if this is just a false alarm, don't go for your guns. Be as peaceful as you can. Themysciran society is... well... as you might expect, there are no men here. Only one mortal man has ever come here and been allowed to leave alive, and that was only because of the impression he made on my mother." "When was that?" Diana pulled off her headset. "1943." After a half-hour's walk through silent woods from their landing pad toward the mountain, Geoff inquired warily, "It's not supposed to be this deserted, is it?" So far, they hadn't seen a single person, and even animals were scarce on the ground. "No. It isn't." Diana's voice was worried, and so was her body language. Geoff reached into the light windbreaker he was wearing and drew the Jackal, flicking off the safety. Diana glanced behind, saw the action, and nodded. She led him off the path they'd been following, through a wooded area that stretched upwards, until they reached an overlook. Below, spread out across acres, was a chunk of Greek history apparently undisturbed by time. White marble buildings, plazas dotted with fountains, lots of statuary. From this angle, it was obvious that its undisturbed appearance was only superficial. Sitting on the paved plaza in front of the largest building was the squat shape of an Earthforce troopship, its barnlike doors open. A pair of guards stood in front of the ramp. Geoff pulled a collapsible monocular out of a jacket pocket, thumbed it online, and scanned carefully. "This isn't good. It looks like there were at least two more troopships, and one bigger ship - probably a prisoner transport." "How can you tell?" Diana asked. He passed her the monocular. "See the square impressions in the marble? Landing gear size, and looks like some hydraulic fluid. I didn't see any blaster burn marks, though. That would mean... stunners. This wasn't a clean-up op. They took everyone on the island captive... which means they wanted them alive." The last was in reaction to the cracking noise of Diana crushing the monoptic, a glare of rage on her face so strong that it should have set the two guards on fire from the strength of it. She dropped the 'scope onto the grass. "They're going to pay for this," Diana snarled. "Oh, yeah. But we need to find out where your people are. That's more important right now." Diana's face visibly pulled itself down from the rage she was in. "You're right. And there's one more thing. The man who was here all those years ago was Captain Rogers." Geoff blinked. "So that's why you joined the Experts of Justice. You heard he'd gone to work for the Chief." Diana nodded. "Back in 1943, Steve left something here. He'd helped save us from a group of Nazi sorcerers and Fallschirmjaeger, and we asked him for something to commemorate the day. He was the first man to step foot on Themyscira with the intent of helping us, for no other reason than it was the right thing to do. He left us with something we still revere. My sisters may... may not return, so we need to collect it. Make certain it doesn't fall into -their- hands." Geoff nodded solemnly. "I came here because a friend asked; as an agent of the International Police, my oaths require me to help as much as I can. You're the SA1 agent here. Tell me what to do." I am entirely too trusting sometimes, Geoff mused as he crawled upward through a soot-lined shaft. The bottom had been an outdoor firepit, apparently a trash disposal. It brought him up into what was supposed to be the kitchen of the city's largest building, which he guessed, Amazons being Amazons, was sort of a combination of City Hall, a feasthall, and the National Guard armory. The kitchen was a disaster. There was a pile of ashes in a depression in the floor, interspersed with chunks of burned wood, and a overturned chair next to the depression. Water trickled out of a stone cabinet. Tables had been overturned and food left to rot on the floor. All this he took in silently, moving as stealthily as he could. Through a corridor lit by small ceiling shafts, he arrived at the entrance to a large hall. A dozen Earthforce troopers sat at the one table that wasn't overturned or smashed, eating from MREs. One end of the room held a marble throne on a tall dais, and on the wall, above the throne... Hanging on that wall was a badge-shaped shield. The top of it was painted blue, with three white stars; the rest of it was painted in red and white vertical stripes. Geoff was a Zardon, not an Earthman, much less an American; even so, being in the presence of the first shield of Captain America, in the throne room of Themyscira where it was a revered artifact, filled him with a sense of awe he'd thought burned from him forever. And those Earthforce troopers, sitting there with their feet on the table, telling lewd jokes about what they hoped were happening to the women, were desecrating this place. His eyes narrowed. No. Not any more. Geoff Depew drew his guns and stepped into the room. "Excuse me," he said in a cool voice, "I'm afraid you're part of an International Police investigation. Please divest yourself of your weapons. I need to ask you a few questions." The Earthforce troopers grabbed their rifles instead, aiming themat him. Geoff glanced at each of them, a hymn in Latin starting to play in his head. "Sarge," one of the privates said, "why ain't he shooting us?" "Ya heard him, Mag. He's one of those IPO pukes. Following their rules of engagement. Which just means it's easier to WASTE HIM!" /* Two-Mix "Truth" _BPM Cube 2_ (2000) */ The sergeant pulled the trigger on his pulse-rifle, the rest of the squad following a second later. Their target wasn't there. By the time the sergeant had finished his last word, Geoff had begun his motion, getting out of their targeting. He got out of the way of his trainings, and simply became a dispassionate machine, powered but not directed by righteous rage. The sergeant took the first bullet, in the left side of his rib cage at an angle, spinning him and cutting down two more members of his squad with his pulse rifle. Geoff had already dropped to his knees, the shots from the pulse guns going over his head, being responded to with shots to the lightly-armored thighs. One of them lost his leg entirely from the impact of the Canon's massive slug on his femur; another would bleed to death within moments with a bullet hole in his femoral artery. Five down. The corporal switched from the pulse gun to the under-slung grenade launcher; before he could fire, the Canon informed him that the launcher was plugged. The blast killed the corporal and two more, bringing the total to eight. It had been five seconds since the fight started. Geoff pitched forwards, doing a forward roll and coming inside the guns of the other four. Two of them died immediately as he shot them in the head. The other two turned to aim at Geoff, who stood behind them. "Be smart," he warned. "You're alive right now because I didn't feel like firing two more shots. I still have bullets." The two Earthforce soldiers dropped their rifles; the left one - Ramirez according to his nametag - also released his belt and dropped demolition charges. Both raised their hands in the interstellar surrender signal for humanoids. "Good. You're going to tell me everything you know about your op- spec here. Your communications gear will be destroyed - you've got survival training, use it - and you'll live. That's what I'm offering." Ramirez talked. Geoff didn't like what he had to say. Geoff walked out of the Royal Hall with Captain America's shield slung on his shoulder, preceded by two men in their underwear. Diana finished demolishing the troop transport, then cast a questioning glance at the men. "They surrendered," Geoff explained. "They won't be able to call for help; we can go now." "What are you going to do to them?" she demanded. "They have no weapons, and only what they wear. If your sisters return, these men can face their justice; if they don't... I'm sure they'll be rescued eventually and have to report what happened." Diana nodded. "Acceptable." Then, sparing a moment's venomous glare for both men, she told them, "You are lucky Agent Depew is here." "Okay," Geoff said, wincing a little as he sat down after stowing the shield. "We know they have your sisters. We don't know where. And they are going to have some idea we may be coming." "All true," Diana said. "Do you have any ideas?" "Oh, a few," he replied. "If I remember our course correctly, we're about four hundred or so miles west of the Azores, right?" Diana gave him a guarded look. "Yes." "Great. Course east and a little south. Next stop, Roanapur, Thailand." Diana brought her stealth-craft around, and started setting the course. "Mind if I ask why we're going to a place that makes Mos Eisley look like Disney's World?" "Roanapur is the world capital of the discredited and disavowed intelligence agents, the mercenaries and the assassins. They say any piece of information you want is for sale there... or you can hire someone to find it for you. It's an open secret - it's fairly well known that even Earthdome, when they want the completely disavowable, gets people from Roanapur. Besides, I still have some contact info in my head." He smiled. "We'll find your people, Diana. It might cost us some, but we will." There are many places across the galaxy that lay claim to the title "wretched hive of scum and villainy". Some do so reluctantly while trying to present a more civil public image, while others take a perverse pride in declaring themselves lawless and opportunistic. There's Tortuga and Moth, Sanctuary and Rigel VII, Farius Prime and Tai- Tastigon, scattered among both the Outer Rim and Coreward Frontier. The cities of Bludhaven on Kane's World, and Madripoor on Gulo. The "sister cities" of Mos Eisley and Mos Espa on Tatooine. And entire books can be, and have been, written on the risks involved in even considering a visit to Nar Shaddaa, "The Smuggler's Moon". However, no such list of places can be considered complete without including a city on Earth. Nestled within Southeast Asia, on the shores of Thailand, its particular brand of "free enterprise" has yet to be quashed by any law enforcement agency or government on the planet: The city of Roanapur. The streets of Roanapur were filled with people, dancing and singing and laughing, but Diana caught a brittle edge to it all. "They're scared," she said softly, to Geoff. "And with good reason," he said, raising the can of beer he had in a toast to three ladies of highly negotiable (and purchasable) virtue calling down from a balcony at him. "At any point, MiniPax could come in here on a loyalty sweep, and all these people would fail in one way or another. So they drink and dance and make merry, for tomorrow..." He left off with a shrug. As a beautiful woman at large in the patriarch's world, Diana had become, if not accustomed to, at least resigned to the catcalls of men who wanted her attention. And sometimes, it was even flattering. While the men - and some women - of Roanapur flirted with her outrageously, most of them took it in good stride when she politely turned them down. The two who didn't was an American and a very drunk German; the flattening of each drew applause when she did it. Finally, Geoff led her to a bar called 'Yellow Flag'. "In here. This is where some of the contacts I had used to hang out. If none of them are here, I should at least be able to find someone to point me to someone." The bar itself was one of the kinds that Diana had found herself instinctively disliking when she first left Themyscira and came to New Avalon: a karaoke bar. Geoff's eyes, however, lit up, and after getting Diana seated, immediately went to sign up. "I hate karaoke," Diana complained, as a drunken Centauri performed (very badly) a version of 'We Are The Champions'. "It's useful in this situation," Geoff said, glancing around the room with the sort of experience his training gave him. "A lot of the songs are tagged to specific people or groups, and function as a request for a meeting. Others are useful as job announcements. When I'm finished, we may have a few people joining us at the table." He glanced at Diana. "You've got the cash, so..." She smirked. "I'm just here as the bag-woman?" "Your words, not mine. Ah, yeah, that's my signal. Back in a few." He left his coat at the table, as he got on stage. The music kicked in, a Latin beat, full of drums, brass and bass, and as she watched, his entire demeanor changed, from the somewhat closed man to someone who flaunted the fact that he was strong, handsome and more than a little dangerous. He flashed a roguish grin and threw himself into the song, moving with it. /* Ricky Martin "Livin' La Vida Loca" _Ricky Martin_ (1999) */ "She's into superstitions Black cats and voodoo dolls I feel a premonition That girl's gonna make me fall She's into new sensations New kicks in the candlelight She's got a new addiction For every day and night She'll make you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain She'll make you live her crazy life and she'll take away your pain Like a bullet to your brain.... Upside, inside out! She's Livin' La Vida Loca! She'll push and pull you down Livin' La Vida Loca! Her lips are devil red And her skin's the color mocha She will wear you out Livin' La Vida Loca! Livin' La Vida Loca! She's livin' La Vida Loca!" He threw so much into it that some of the people actually started to dance, including one Thai beauty - long black hair, a tank top, and shorts that Diana found almost pornographically short - who during the instrumental bridge climbed on stage and was doing her best to embody the song, including wrapping herself around Geoff for the final chorus. For his part, Geoff's rogue-grin was wider than ever, and when the pre- ending bridge hit, the two did some very, very close flamenco dancing, until it slammed to the end, leaving the entire bar on its feat, whistling and applauding. Geoff bowed, gave his dance partner a chaste kiss, and then headed back to the table, re-buttoning his shirt as he did. "Congratulations," Diana said dryly, "you do man-slut well." "The song," he said with some gravity, "was a signal. People will recognize it. And we do work for people who want nothing more than excellence. I wasn't going to do it badly." "You didn't, baby," the Thai woman said, slipping into the chair between the two of them with a margarita in each hand. "But I get the feeling you're not here for just pleasure, big boy." She grinned. "Been a long time, Hellbringer." Geoff shook his head. "I don't use that name any more." The new woman set her second margarita in front of him, taking a sip from hers. "Yeah, but that's the only name I have for you. Most people here know you broke ranks, and for whom you work now. Depending on what happens right now, Uncle Julie could be here in five minutes." "My associate and I are looking for some people we think our uncle has invited to one of his private chalets. Problem is, you know he's got so many? Trying to find them is always a problem. If we could get some information on which vacation home, we'd be more than happy to offer a tip." Geoff didn't take a drink, but drew on the table with a droplet of condensation that fell off the glass. She leaned close. "Lose a few girls? Sad, that. There are a few rumors that Uncle J snagged a bunch of lovely ladies from an island and is keeping them under guard. Very, very hush hush. Confirming it's going to cost you." A dull-grey circular object rolled across the table, bouncing off Geoff's arm, and then fell flat with a heavy metallic sound. He glanced at it, then at Diana, who was watching the entire discussion with an annoyed air. Hoping he hadn't misjudged the situation, he glanced at it again. "Is that what I think it is?" Diana nodded. "Cast iron obolus, Spartan, from the reign of Leonidas I, circa 500 BSC. Worth a half-million on the legal antiquities market, and I can give you the names of four people who'll pay twice that with no questions asked. You will find that Spartan iron coinage is quite rare nowadays. The material doesn't weather the ages nearly as readily as gold." The young woman smiled, picking it up. "Come back here tomorrow. My associates and I will have what you want. I might not be the one making contact, but we'll make sure you have it." She gave Geoff a kiss, then moved off. "Adios, big man... too bad your lady and you couldn't join me for an evening..." Her voice had developed a solid Thai accent. Geoff began to rise, a slightly pained smile on his face. "Shall we?" He offered his hand. Diana ignored it, getting up and heading for the door. Geoff rolled his eyes and followed, grabbing and donning coat and slinging satchel. As he walked out behind Diana, he watched her gait become smoother, and when he pulled up next to her he said, "Not bad. I really thought you were angry at me." "I thought I was supposed to be. I'm not very good at undercover work. Where can we get a hotel room?" "Crowne Plaza. Bugged as hell, but I brought my antibugging gear." "So," Diana said after he'd fitted all the bugs with fakers that would feed the MiniPax watchers a pretty hot night, "who was that? And who's 'Hellbringer'? To my ear it sounds like the name of a weapon." She watched the pain cross Geoff's face. "In a manner of speaking it is. Hellbringer," he said slowly, "was my operational name when I was with my former employers. On assignment, that's who I was. The Chief knows; I'm pretty sure that Captain Rogers and Deputy Chief Daniels know. As for her... she's an infiltration bioroid, part of a team, formerly Earth Alliance deniable and expendable ops. They broke their loyalty programming and hung out their shingle here. If anyone can find where the rest of the Themyscirans are, it's them." Diana let that pass. "Who's Uncle Julie?" Geoff glanced over. "Minipax. One of the Caesars - I forget which one - declared the Pax Romana. It's shorthand. If you hear people in this business talking about their 'uncle', it's Minipax. IPO is always bird references; Klingons are 'your grumpy cousins'. There's an entire way of talking in this sort of business where you can talk about one thing and about another at the same time. I asked her to find out which MiniPax detention center - Uncle Julie's vacation homes - they were in. Tomorrow night, we go back, someone will give us the information, and we'll go deal with it." "What plans do you have for tomorrow?" "Not a lot of sights to see in Roanapur. I was going to stay in, watch bad Thai TV - not that there's really any other kind - and prepare for trouble." "We should pick up some clothes that let us fit in." "Good thinking. It'll be eye-searing, though." THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2410 7:00 PM THAILAND STANDARD TIME (UTC+7) The bar was just as packed the next night. The karaoke stage had been taken down, and instead there seemed to be a poker tournament going on at the tables that had replaced it. No one noticed the big man in the pink sport coat, white t-shirt and grey slacks, or the woman with him in the orange minidress, as they entered. They had barely sat down when a young pigtailed Japanese woman in a black baby-doll dress joined them. "Call me Gothic," she said, as she slid a chip across the table. "There is your information." Diana picked the chip up and slotted it into a PDA, then raised her eyebrows at the information displayed. "Madagascar? How sure are you?" "As sure as we can be. People talk, trade information, and there's been a sudden surge at a site there. Lots of tall women with dark hair and olive skin." Gothic smiled at Diana. "It's amazing how many people will sell information that seems to them to have no real importance." She glanced at Geoff. "How do you like it on the side you're now on?" "Much less of a feeling someone's going to knife me. The old motto gets taken too seriously by some people." Gothic nodded. "You should know," she said, "that someone has sold the fact you're here. There's a few people who remember the last time you were in town." Geoff groaned. "Who bought? Balalaika came out better, so not her... Abrego? Chin?" "Abrego," Gothic confirmed. "He's hired a bunch of rabble to take you down. You're probably dead as soon as you step out of here. They've got the rooftop advantage." "Not anymore," he said. "How much do we owe you?" She made a dismissive gesture. "He stiffed us. This is payback, Hellbringer." He opened his mouth, and she waved. "That's your name here. It will always be, no matter who you work for. Go." "Not quite yet," he said, pulling out his phone. "One phone call before we go. Phone: Balalaika." It clicked twice, and then beeped with a connection. "Balalaika. This is Hellbringer. Yes. Yellow Flag - I'm surprised you... oh, you had. Listen, last time I was here you said you owed me. Yeah. I'm not with them anymore, and you said you owed me, not them. Just cover. Abrego, so it's probably third-stringers. Yeah. The airstrip. Great. We're clear." He hung up the phone. "So," Diana said, with a dubious look, "what was that?" Geoff grinned. "Balalaika's the rep in town for the Novy Vory - the Russian Mob. She owed me a favor - well, she said she owed me when she meant she owed my former employers, but she said 'I owe you'. I just called it in. She's sending some of her people over to cover our escape." Gothic rose. "I should not know more of your plan. Good luck, Hellbringer." Geoff nodded, eyes faraway. Then they snapped back. "Okay, then. Time to go upstairs." "They're on the roof, so we're going to go to the roof and try to get the drop on them?" "I'm going to miss the field pack, but I have what's important." He shifted his jacket, revealing the grips of his guns, then stood up. "Let's go." His stance shifted, and Diana smiled slightly. They hit the roof to the tune of gunfire in B major. "Already on the roof. Woooonderful." Geoff shook his head, and drew his pistols. "And I bet it's only the first wave." "What did you do to anger this Abrego?" "He's a drug cartel boss, and he was covering security for the Hotel Cubana when there were a bunch of Big Fire operational directors there for a Centaurus Sector planning meeting. He figured he could get an in. I took out a bunch of his boys on the way out. He didn't get really mad until I shot the tires off his Beemer and it flipped..." He shook his head. "You ready?" Diana shucked her jacket. "Let's go." /* Overseer "Stompbox" _Wreckage_ (2002) */ Geoff dove out, his guns speaking in insistent tones - informing three mooks that they needed to fall down now. The mooks took that advice. Diana came out behind him as he slid across the gravel on the bar's roof, her arms moving faster than Geoff could easily make out, and two more dropped as their own bullets returned to sender, postage paid. One of the mooks was on top of the stairwell roof; Geoff plugged him, then swung around to get to his feet. His reflexes took over, and the other three barely had a chance to fire again. "Nine down," he said, "and half the gunsel scum of Thailand to go." "Let's move. That way, right?" Diana said, pointing to the west. "Yeah, airstrip's that DUCK!" He grabbed her and pulled her to the side, just as a pair of micromissiles blew past her, hitting the billboard across the street. "Oh, great, they've got someone on a Cyclone. Well, no time like the present," he said, running towards the edge of the roof and leaping for the next building. Gunfire came up from the alley, but it was scattered and missed them. "Why aren't you using your implant?" Diana asked as they crossed another roof. "I've got one shot left, if I use it I'll be exhausted when it wears off, and right now I'm fine." Then they pulled up short - this wasn't an alley here, it was a full-fledged street, two lanes, too wide to jump. "...maybe not so fine." Three stories to the street, the only car visible an old pink one parked halfway on the sidewalk... ... a pink Cadillac that suddenly had two guys get out of the front and pull a trampoline out of the trunk, setting it up just under the building's cornice. "Yo," yelled one of them, a bald black man in a green vest, "we're your backup." Geoff looked at Diana; Diana looked at Geoff; both shrugged and jumped. Geoff used some tricks he had to slow himself down by getting drag off the building; Diana seemed to fall just a bit slower. Both landed, bouncing off and landing on their feet. The other man, a thin Japanese in short-sleeved dress shirt, dark slacks and tie, bowed like the Neo-Tokyo salaryman he resembled. "We are the Black Lagoon Trading Company. Balalaika hired us to get you to the airport! Please get in the car so we can move quickly!" As they piled in, Geoff squeezed into the front, moving aside a young man using a pair of dataglasses. "I got the track on them, Dutch," the gargoyle said. "I'm in the traffic database, and getting us green lights to the airport." "Hey, Dutch," came a rowdy woman's voice from the back seat, "you put in that mod?" The car accelerated faster than it should have - but why, Geoff thought, should I have even CONSIDERED it might be stock? "Yeah, Revy, I did." Dutch dodged a couple of cars who had run the red lights. "The back window flips down. Watch what you do!" "Dutch? There's a motorcycle coming after us." "DODGE!" Geoff yelled, opening the door and leaning out. "That's a Cyclone, he might have missiles left!" The car started to juke, just as the Cyclone fired its forward wheelhub missiles. Two of the missiles died with Geoff shooting them... and the other two exploded early, as well. The Cyclone then lay down hard as bullets flew into the handlebars, not blowing through the CVR-3, but making it very hard to control. "Ha-HA! Gotcha!" The woman's voice resolved itself as Geoff leaned back into the car. A remarkably well-shaped rump in very short cutoff jeans and muscular legs wiggled around, revealing a Chinese woman in a cut-off tank-top, tribal tattoo on one shoulder, brown hair drawn back into a ponytail. She shoved a pair of pistols into shoulder holsters and remarked, "You're pretty damn good, buddy." "So are you." He decided not to push right now - she'd helped save his life, and asking some questions about where she got her training would be a problem. Especially since he recognized her training as having a great deal of the Ignatine gun kata involved in it. That would bear investigating - later. The pink Caddy slewed around, knocking over the full-armor borg sitting by Diana's craft's door. "Here you go," the man called Dutch growled. As Geoff and Diana hauled out, the borg stood up, deploying a RPG launcher from one arm. As everyone grabbed for guns, the borg, rather anticlimactically, lost its head. As it fell over, it revealed a young woman in a maid's uniform and parasol. The parasol had a large hole in it, revealing the barrels of a very large shotgun. "Garcia Loveless sends his regards, Hellbringer," she said. "Your appearance drew Abrego out and gave Don Garcia the opportunity to gain his revenge." Geoff bowed. "My regards to him as well, and to you, Rosalita." The door to the craft unfolded into a ladder, allowing them to scramble up. As they sped through the pre-flight (with Geoff informing the tower they were leaving, no flight plan, don't give me shit or we'll strafe), they both watched a dozen men run onto the tarmac, spot the maid, and flee in what could only be called a rout. Moments later, as they took off, Diana tabbed the stealth systems on. "You know the most -interesting- people." "Rosalita? She's a combat bioroid someone spent a lot of money on. If Loveless sent her out, it means that Abrego's entire organization in Roanapur is about to depart." "You'd think he would send her out to do that job. Why are you even accepting help from criminal organizations? Doesn't that violate every IPO regulation there is?" "Roanapur is a criminal haven. If you're not part of one of the syndicates, you're dangerous, and someone there might consider you enough of a threat to take you apart. I used the resources I had. I don't like that I had to, especially since it started a gang war, but I made a choice. That choice was to find your people. And I'll take it on my soul that I made the best possible choice I could to do what I had to do. That's what my oath means to me - I may not be perfect, and God will judge me for my sins, but I did what I had to so the mission would get done." He shook his head. "I have contacts that a lot of people who work for the International Police don't - people who may not be nice or good or honorable - and I may use them to get done what needs to be done. If that saves lives, I'll pay the price. And keep this in mind, Princess: When we're operating on Earth, -we're the outlaws.- Whatever we think of it, Earthgov is the legitimate authority on this planet right now, and we're taking them on. That makes US criminals, and it makes anybody who might help us - BY DEFINITION - a criminal. So who ELSE are we going to turn to?"" The trip to Madagascar began as a tense, if quiet, one, as Geoff seethed and Diana thought. Halfway through the trip, Diana was reviewing the information she'd received from Gothic. "Hm. There's a note here for you," she said. Geoff, who had been watching out the window and not paying attention to Diana, turned to look at her with a grunted, "Hm?" She passed the reader to him, and he tapped the icon. It asked for a password. Geoff looked at the request, then hit 'cancel' and tapped the icon with the command for 'file info'. He stared for a moment, then hit it again. "Password: Sharif won't like it." The message unfolded into a note, which he read, then read again out loud. "Hellbringer: heard you were in town. I don't think I'll get the chance to touch base with you before you go, from what I was able to pick up. I'm risking my life twice over sending you this: once because it's to you, and the second because I'm breaking the oath. I want out. I can't deal with what I'm being used to do anymore. If you can - and will - help me, send Balalaika a message stating you'd send her flowers but can't get it through the blockade. Good luck and I hope to see you soon. Regards, Kilovolt." He exhaled softly. "Someone you know?" "Kilovolt was a couple years behind me in the special agent training program Big Fire runs. She's got electrical abilities - the codename tells you that much - and apparently she's either broken the loyalty programming, or this is a trap." Diana was quiet for a moment. "You're going back there anyway, aren't you?" "If she is trying to get out, I have to help her. If it's a trap... well, I want to start seeing things from the good side rather than the bad." He sighs again. "But after this." He unstrapped himself. "I need to get to my luggage. I need to make sure all my reloads are ready, and change into something a bit less..." He glanced down at the cheap pink jacket, then at Diana's orange minidress. "... -obvious.- You should too." Diana stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Geoff... I just wanted to say... you were right. This is a situation that needs ...I suppose flexibility is the word. What you're doing... you're doing things to help my people, and doing it well. I may not think it's the perfect way, but you know this kind of work better. I'm sorry for questioning you." "No, no. You were right to question me. I started slipping back into old ways of doing things, and you made me think. I needed that. Thank you. Sorry I got testy." "Oh, were you testy?" Diana asked casually. "I didn't notice; I was too busy being bitchy." Geoff, rummaging around in his duffle bag, froze, blinked, and turned to stare at her. The Amazon princess gave him back a "... what?" look for a couple of seconds, then could sustain it no longer. They laughed together, the tension forgotten. "So," she said, smiling. "If we're not dressing like contestants on It's Not My Problem!, what -are- we wearing?" He grinned back. "I happened to bring some field kits with me..." FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2410 02:04 AM MADAGASCAR STANDARD TIME (UTC+3) MADAGASCAR, INDIAN OCEAN They found a cleft in the side of the plateau the facility stood on that was just barely big enough to fit Diana's craft. It took them another hour to free-climb up the side of the plateau to a place where they could see the facility. It was a squat, ugly edifice of grey metal; four five-story towers marked the corners and four-story wings bridged the spaces between, with a courtyard in the center, probably to allow craft to land and drop off prisoners. There was no fence, but with a thousand-foot drop to the ground on all sides, one wasn't needed. "There it is. There's 44 EA troops in there guarding over one thousand Amazons, probably wired to sleep inducers." Geoff slid the binoculars into a pouch of the harness he wore over a black coverall. His holsters fit over it (if a bit bulkily), a dozen spare clips hung from straps, and a small rack on one side held four massive speed- loaders. On one arm was a metal bracer that looked almost like a piece of armor. "That's all right. Amazons can shake off the effects of those easily with the right motivation." Diana wore a similar coverall, her bracers, and her golden rope was coiled and tucked into a flat pouch on the small of her back so that its glow didn't give them away. Both their faces were covered with black paste makeup, to make them harder to identify. Geoff paused. "You're going to slap all of them one at a time?" Diana gave him a look and said, "No, I was going to slap one and then she'd slap two Amazons and they'd slap two Amazons and so on and so on." Geoff ignored the sarcasm and nodded, thumbing the safeties off his guns. "Good plan. Works nicely. Let's go." /* Chris Cornell "You Know My Name" _Carry On_ (2007) */ Ministry of Peace Detention Center 4 was quiet. All prisoners were kept under electronic sleep inducers with feeding IVs except when in re- education; Psi Corps officers monitored the area, with E(CA)2s patrolling. With a total staff of 44 (including the Psi Corps and the cleaning staff), it was one of MiniPax's preferred locations for duty. The place was pretty full - it was designed for 1200, and there were 1152 there now, all from one op - but with those precautions, plus the fact it was on top of a plateau with almost no access except by air, no one would be able to approach without being noticed. At least, that was the judgement of the Ministry of Peace planning board. When the first proximity alarms went off, it would be understandable that there might be some confusion by the guards. The front door being torn open by a tall, regal woman using her bare hands brought them all to full alert. Her companion bringing guns to bear merely enhanced their sense of panic. Geoff's guns spoke the language of violence fluently, and the bodies of the two door guards listened, convinced to fall down and lose conciousness. Diana sped to the console. "You're right, sleep inducers. We'll need to undo them one at a time." "Maybe not. If we can get to Prisoner Control, we should be able to shut them down all at once." "What about the power center?" Geoff shook his head. "It's underground, and that screams 'trapped in a corner'. Come on, according to the data we got, we've got a run ahead of us." He bent down to one of the door guards, rummaging briefly before pulling off the dead man's MiniPax badge and affixing it to his chest, then tossing the other to Diana. "What's this for?" she said as she pinned it on as he had. "They don't have keys, so I'm hoping these aren't just badges, but ID transponder tags." They ran up the stairs and turned right. Blast doors slid open at their approach, then slid closed behind, as they ran through the first quadrant's section. The last door on the row didn't respond, with the result of Geoff bouncing off it. He wiped the blood from his nose away, then glanced at Diana. "Your turn." She nodded, and instead of trying to pry it open, reared back and punched the left-side door in. Her instincts were good - it knocked over one of the two E(CA)s waiting for the door to open. The other tried to shoot her with a blaster. Once again, Geoff was impressed, as she moved her arms quickly, deflecting the blaster bolts. He dropped to the floor and slid in front of her, finding and shooting the Enforcer. As the second shoved the door out from on top of him, Diana grabbed his helmet and twisted hard. Dropping the corpse and dusting off her hands, she turned to look at Geoff getting up off the floor. "They have us pinned down." "Maybe," he admitted, "but now we have something else on our side." He holstered his pistols and picked up the blaster rifle from one of the fallen Enforcers. "More weapons." The blast door on the other corner began to sizzle and heat up. "More of them." Geoff went to the desk in the room, to glance at it, then around the room, and then he grinned. "Hold on," he said, and then blasted seemingly randomly in the corners of the ceiling. Diana ducked some sparks and glared. "What was THAT for?" Geoff gestured her into a corner as water started to pour from the ceiling. "With that much heat I expected the fire suppression system to go off, and that means..." He pressed a small recessed panel, and a door opened into a stairwell. "That the security overrides kicked in, giving us access to the fire stairs." She swept wet hair out of her eyes. "... I take back every moment of thinking you were crazy." "Well, mind where you stow them, you might need them again later." The door to the third floor had no handle, but they were able to open it anyway, with the help of a fire axe. The room they entered was an office of some kind, and the shag rug was soaked and all of a sudden Geoff was on fire. It wasn't just fire. It ate away his skin, burrowed into his muscles, charred at his bones. It was hideously agonizing, the kind of pain that kills just by existing in the human body. Next to him, Diana had stopped, absolutely stock-still, her face in a rictus of terror, as if she'd turned into a statue. There was a strain in her muscles, but she was locked in place. As Geoff collapsed, howling in agony, parts of his brain worked without letting any higher level know what they were up to. Deeply ingrained patterns of thought influenced his motions, and suddenly, with the sound of thunder, the pain just stopped. As the effects of the psychic assault faded, they shook themselves. The dead Psi Cop had a look of surprise on his face, just above the bullet wound high in his chest. "What... did he do to us?" Geoff pulled himself to his feet. "It's a Psi Corps technique. It kicks in the fear center and makes you hallucinate something that scares you. I'll have to work on that." Diana nodded. Geoff wondered abstractly what her trigger was, what could frighten the princess of the Amazons as much as burning to death again could frighten him, but he brushed curiosity aside. It was none of his business, and anyway, they had work to do. "How far are we from the control center?" Nodding at the right door, Geoff ejected a half-full clip from the Jackal, sliding it into a pocket, and replaced it with a fresh one, then reloaded the Canon. "It might get ugly out there. Once we blow the door, I expect half their people to be in that corridor. It'll be obvious to them now." Diana nodded, waited for him to signal his readiness, and then lashed out with both fists, sending the doors forwards into the crowd. Some ducked, some shot, none of them with any real effect. As she did, Geoff shoved three doses of Miraculon into his veins, the Daodan within him taking the chemicals and supercharging his biology. His hair grew down to his waist, and he leapt forwards as everything around him dropped into slow motion. Even with the cybernetically-augmented Enforcers, it wasn't even a contest. Diana joined in, wrecking cyborg and man alike until the remaining force had been taken care of in a decisive manner. As the door slid open on the security center, the grey-jumpsuited man sitting in the main seat raised his hands and backed off. "Don't shoot, for God's sake I'm just a JANITOR!" Geoff nodded. "Go, there." He gestured with the Canon to a chair in the corner, then moved to the console. "OK, I think I have the AGH!" The last word came when the man in the grey jumpsuit drew a knife and stabbed Geoff low and to the side in the back. This bit of employee initiative was rewarded with a pistol-whipping from the Canon, which was probably not quite what he'd had in mind. "You," Geoff said, the glow fading as he turned slowly, "have just ruined a perfectly good jumpsuit, you idiot." "I've also sent the alert! There's three troopships coming! You'll never escape!" The "janitor" grinned through the blood running freely from his nose. "Isn't it good he was so helpful, Diana?" "I'm rethinking my rethinking about your sanity," she shot back as she tied the man to an office chair. Geoff turned and grinned nastily at her. "Oh, come on, Princess. How did you think we were going to get your people out of here?" "So your -plan- was to have them send in troopships?" "These guys versus your people, all of them fighting mad, with the weapons here? I think we have the advantage." He pressed a button on the console. "OK. According to this, the sleep inducers will be shutting down, leaving only two people in the - pff - 'Interview Center'." "What are their names?" Geoff sat down at the console and clicked a couple of times. "Sandsmark, Cassandra and NLN, Artemis. They're immobilized in there, and the only controls are local." He turned around in the chair. "I'll get them. You need to help organize." "Just from academic curiosity, why not the other way around?" Geoff gave her a look, and said, "Your people know you. They don't know me. Everything else is gravy." Diana smirked, just a little. "Right. I need to find one of the prisoners first." "One floor down, left of here, middle of block 2." "Who's that?" Geoff stood up, checking his guns. "Your mother. I figured you'd look for her first. She's the queen, and you'll need her to really organize things." With a small smile, Diana said, "You really think you have the situation pegged, don't you?" "It's logical. I'm going to try to not get killed." The door to the Interview Center slid open, and the Psi Cop on duty took a baton round to the forehead that left him with a bloody welt and a concussion, as well as some significant unconsciousness. The man with the gun moved into the room, checking for more hostiles. The other two occupants were hanging by their wrists from the ceiling by chains, with more chains holding their feet in place. Only one, a teenage blonde from the looks of her, was awake. The other woman, a slightly older redhead, looked to be out cold. "Cassandra Sandsmark?" "Who wants to know?" the blonde girl growled, trying the chain that suspended her arms again. "My name is Geoff Depew. Diana sent me. She's freeing the others, but this place is off the network." "If Diana sent you, then - " "We don't have TIME for this, girl wonder. I'm going to crack your cuffs, and if it turns you're not Sandsmark, I'm going to knock you out and leave you wherever we found out." She dropped to the floor as the electromagnetic locks opened, and shook off the ones on her ankles. "Good thing I am, then. And you were almost right. In the field it's Wonder Girl. I'd show you my Titans ID, but damned if I know where it is right now." A moment later, she was supporting the unconscious Amazon. Artemis's face was bloody from nose and ears. "Bastard Psi Cop just kept trying to break her," Cassandra explained. "Wanted me to watch so I 'understood' that we couldn't win." She looked over to see Geoff rummage in the cop's belt, then put an injector to the left side of his throat with a soft hiss. "Did you just whack that guy up on his own blip sleepers?" Geoff nodded. "I think I like you. You're mean to people who deserve it." He checked his guns. "Miss Sandsmark, you have absolutely no idea." There was a lot of noise coming from the door. "Sounds like we've got a lot of very angry women out there." Cassie swung Artemis into a fireman's carry. "Good. There's one in here too, and I can't imagine Artemis'll be too happy when she wakes up, either." When they returned to Security Control, the man in the jumpsuit was on his knees. The control room's main chair was occupied by a woman whose regal, commanding character was not at all minimized by the orange prison jumpsuit she wore, and out the opposite door was a crowd of women, all looking mad enough to chew iron and spit bullets. She turned as Geoff and Cassandra entered the room. "You, man. Our daughter says you have travelled as a companion and guardian, risking your life for Our people for no reason other than friendship and justice. And you have set foot on Our island." It had been a while since Geoff had needed to use this bit of training, but he improvised. Dropping to one knee and bending his head, he said, "This is all true, Queen Hippolyta. No offense was meant, nor is any meant now." "Rise, then. It would be poor of Us indeed to treat you shabbily for your acts on the behalf of Our people." Then she turned to the man in the grey jumpsuit. "And this one is the commander of this prison. We had thought to leave him alive and well, to face the punishment of his superiors, which will certainly be great. Have you anything you wish to say to him?" Geoff rose at her command and crossed to the warden. With the Canon against the man's forehead to punctuate his statement, he said slowly and clearly, "If I find out you sent a goon, a spy, a Psi Corps agent, a nanotech probe or even a nasty thought to Themyscira or her people again, Warden, I will come back here, and there is nothing that you, your guards, your people or your commanders can do to stop me from blowing you away." He holstered the Canon again, and turned to Hippolyta. "Begging your pardon, Majesty." Rarely, he mused, had that word fit the person it was being spoken of in his experience. "There is none to give. Perhaps your words will assure his obedience. Now, Daughters of Athena, we have much to do. There are ships coming and - " "Ship," Diana said, interrupting. "One ship. No identification. Showing as a Leopard-class dropship." Geoff blinked, then went to the window. "Our Lord, who Art in Heaven, You do work in mysterious ways." He turned back, grinning, then hit a key on the center console. A man's voice came from the communications grid. "Attention, Minipax Detention 4. This is the Pan-Worlds Enforcement International starship Minuteman 9. You are illegally holding a large group of prisoners. You will release them to us immediately or suffer the consequences. Over." Geoff hit a key next to it. "Minuteman 9, good to see you. This is Hellbringer, and I have Her Majesty Queen Hippolyta here. I beg you, pay heed to Her Majesty's words." Hippolyta smiled. "Steven, what do you think you're doing?" "Paying a debt, Polly. Prepare to come aboard." Everyone could hear the relief in the voice of Steve Rogers. "You did a hell of a job. Thanks for sending me the report," Captain Rogers said as he shook Geoff Depew's hand. "I didn't even see you send it," Diana said. "I phoned it in from Roanapur. Which reminds me - I need to go back there before we leave Earth." Rogers nodded. "I'll go with you. This is important, and you're going to want someone to watch your back." "I have someone, but I'll take both. We'll have to climb down, though." Steve Rogers buttoned the chest flap of his Captain America uniform's well-traveled red, white and blue leather jacket and grinned. "I think we can handle that." "Oh, before we launch, sir, there's a friend of yours in the back." Geoff ducked into Diana's ship, emerged a few moments later, and presented Steve Rogers with his shield. Steve smiled, taking it. "Well, well. Been a few years since I've seen this fellow." He slung the shield on his back, shrugged a couple of times to adjust the straps, and said, "Feels like old times. All right, then. Let's get these ladies back to their island." "I'll see you there, sir," said Geoff. A few hours later, the sun was just beginning to rise in the east - behind them - as the two ships approached their destination, flying subsonic a few thousand feet above the Atlantic. In the control room of the Minuteman 9, Steve Rogers kept an eye on the status panel for the stealth systems, but only as a matter of habit. The ship had been outfitted for the Special Assignment transport pool under the direction of the Chief Technologist, and Steve, of all people, knew what that implied. Queen Hippolyta didn't seem as convinced; she had a hard time trusting any technology not developed by her own people, and given the consequences if they were spotted, she would have preferred it if she hadn't had to entrust all their survival to the products of the patriarch's world now. She paced the small control cabin like a caged panther, back and forth up and down the narrow aisle between the consoles aft of the pilot's couch, until Rogers finally said to her over his shoulder, "Are you sure you ought to go straight back, Polly? Earthforce obviously knows the way to Themyscira now. They're sure to come looking for you again." Hippolyta stopped pacing, regarded him for a few moments, then walked forward to the navigator's station and sat down. "Thank you, Steven, for reminding me of what I should -really- be agonizing over," she said dryly. "No, I'm not certain we should go back. It isn't because the puppets of Earth's corrupt government know how to find the island, though. It's because they've already been there." Rogers nodded, but said nothing, knowing she had more to say. "We abandoned Themiscyra - ancient Themiscyra, on the banks of the Thermodon - after Heracles defiled it with his wrath," Hippolyta said, mostly to herself. "What Earthforce has done puts the rage of Heracles in its shadow. He was a fool who was deceived, nearly as much a victim as we were. The same cannot be said about our erstwhile captors." She shook her head. "Perhaps the time has come to abandon the Earth altogether. We can probably go back into hiding, but the necessity of it offends me - and we are too few to exact the revenge that honor demands of us." She chuckled bitterly. "There was a time when I would have concluded that our only course was to counterattack anyway, knowing it was futile. Better, as they say, to die on our feet than live on our knees." "The world has changed," Rogers agreed sadly. "But there's nothing to be gained by throwing all your lives away." "I am inclined to agree with you, Steven. I must be growing timid in my dotage," she remarked with a wry little smile. "So be it. When we reach the island, I will call a conference with my chief advisors and seek their opinions. It will anger many of my people to leave, I'm sure; they will think it a coward's way out. But perhaps I can convince them... and if I cannot, perhaps Diana can. Exile she may be, but she has always been persuasive." "It won't be long now," Rogers observed, glancing at his navigation panel. "The island should be in sight in a few - " For a moment, neither he nor Hippolyta could comprehend what they were seeing. After the first startling flash of white light, like distant lightning, it looked like a sunrise - first a diamond, then an arc, then a brilliant yellow-white ball of light, rising from the far horizon into the sky. But that was quite impossible; the horizon was to the west. Rogers recognized it first; with a look of utter horror on his face, he murmured, "My -God.-" "Steven, what - " Hippolyta asked, but Rogers ignored her, breaking free from his awestruck reverie to lunge for the deflector shield controls. A moment later, the shockwave arrived. "What in -Tartarus?-" Diana blurted as the concussion struck her ship head-on, racing down the airframe from nose to tail with a noise like Hephaistos's hammer. Teeth gritted, she hung onto the control column as the ship bucked and tried to roll, aerodynamic surfaces struggling for purchase against the suddenly disordered air. Before he could be told to, Geoff leaned forward against his seat harness and punched the repulsors online, switching the ship to space maneuvering mode. The ride stabilized immediately, though the roar conducting through the hull took several seconds to abate. On the horizon to the west, the ball of light had transmuted as it rose, its brilliance fading to a sullen orange glow within a steadily darkening cloud of seething black smoke. Shot through with yellow lightning, the fireball rose and spread angrily into the upper atmosphere, still connected to the shocked and roiling surface of the sea by a narrowing column of smoke. Once she had her craft under control, Diana sat for a moment staring at the slowly dissipating mushroom cloud, then turned to Geoff, her face slack. Behind them, Cassie Sandsmark sat with her hand to her mouth, her eyes huge and disbelieving. Geoff was all business, his emotions submerged in his training, as he keyed on the comm system. "Minuteman 9, how do you read?" "We're fine, Agent Depew," Rogers replied. "I got the shields up just in time. What's your status?" "We're okay, sir." "My sensors show no indications of pursuit." Geoff glanced at the radar display. "My scope's clear as well. They don't know we're here. I recommend we make that true as fast as possible." "I concur. Head south until we clear the blast area, then let's head for Thailand to take care of your other business. The sooner we're off the planet, the better I'll like it." With the important things out of the way, Geoff's mind changed gears, leaving him free to ask in a more human tone of voice, "Captain Rogers, was that what I think - " "Yes, Geoff," Rogers replied. "That was a thermonuclear explosion. Ten megatons at least, maybe more. I've... " He trailed off, was silent for several seconds, and then finished quietly, "... seen them before. I'll see you at Roanapur. Minuteman 9 out." After closing the comm connection, Rogers checked his sensors again. Still no sign of any Earthforce aircraft in the vicinity, no sign that anyone knew they were there. The bomb had probably been delivered from over the horizon by ballistic or cruise missile, most likely launched from a submarine. He reconfigured the autopilot to take them to Thailand, then sat back in his seat and heaved a sigh before turning to Hippolyta, who still sat gazing in shock out the forward viewport. "Polly, I'm sorry," he said. "I... I knew not much was beyond Earthgov these days, but I never imagined they would go -that- far." The Amazon queen looked out at the empty sea, glad that their turn to the south had put the black smudge of the still-rising mushroom cloud's remnants out of her view. For a few moments, she said nothing. Then, without looking at him, she said slowly, "Perhaps it is better this way. We would probably have left the island anyway, after the Earthforce troops' defilement of it. This way the leaving is over quickly and cleanly, with no looking back. We have been exiles before. We can manage again." She pulled herself together with a visible exercise of will, stood up, and said, "Excuse me, Captain. I must go and tell my sisters that their home is no more." When Diana's ship and the Minuteman 9 landed at the Roanapur air strip several hours later, darkness had fallen and there were two cars waiting under the floodlights by the ramshackle terminal building. One was the pink Cadillac they'd encountered before, and the other was a neo-Soviet limo. The crew of the Black Lagoon Trading Company leaned against the Caddy, and the other had a woman flanked by two burly men in front of it. As Diana and Geoff crossed the tarmac, the woman came more clearly into view: tall and blonde, smoking a cigar, with the marks of a terrible burn across one side of her face and going down into her shirt. "Balalaika," Geoff said, approaching, hands at his sides, "to what do I owe the honor of your presence?" "You owe me flowers," she said simply, with a small smile. Her voice was heavily accented with the tones of Moscow. "Indeed I do. Alas, I was nowhere I could find any." Steve Rogers, looking entirely at ease with his old shield slung on his back, stepped up with a rolled paper cone that filled his arms. "I took care of it for you." He revealed the flowers: scarlet lilies and buttercups. "A student of the classics, I see." She accepted them, and bowed her head. "May I give you a ride to your destination?" "Of course, ma'am," Steve said. "May I get the door for you?" "Let my men do it. You're my guests." The limo was the height of luxury within. The three from the IPO only took water, despite offers of 'the best vodka you can find on Earth'. Other than that, the trip went in silence to the docks. "I cannot help you without risking myself too much," Balalaika said as the limo rolled to a stop. "As a go-between, passing messages, there is not so much risk. We are clear, Hellbringer." Geoff nodded. "Understood. Thank you for this much." /* Juno Reactor "Guardian Angel" Beyond The Infinite */ When the limousine glided to a halt a few minutes later, the three emerged and walked toward the meeting area, a dingy cargo container marshaling yard on the city's waterfront dockland. As they did, they saw that perched on top of the various shipping containers were people - a lot of people. Diana recognized Gothic from the bar, and the android Rosalita from their quick departure from Roanapur. Rosalita was holding an umbrella over a young man in a cream-colored suit. "What are they all doing here?" she whispered. "Watching. Big Fire's a major criminal organization, and they want to see what happens. That's Chin, from the local Tong, and his men. Garcia Loveless, who's probably here to give us a hand if we need it. Balalaika's taking a place, too, I'm sure. The Church of Violence is even here," he said, nodding towards two nuns and a priest, all holding suitcases. On the other side of the square of boxes, in front of the base of a towering cargo crane, was a tall, brunette young woman in a green and silver jumpsuit, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. The two problems: the two dozen Black Hoods with her; and the red-hooded Q-Boss standing on a crate behind them all. "Weeeeeell, now," The Q-Boss drawled. "Looks like someone was stupid enough to fall for our trap!" With his training, Geoff was able to read Kilovolt's posture and face. This was a trap, but she was in it too. "Draw!" All the Black Hoods drew their pistols and pointed them at the four IPO agents. Out of (apparently) nowhere, a mass of people flowed around the cargo containers. Led by their queen, the Amazons of Themyscira moved to back up the trio. Divested of their prison jumpsuits, they wore not, as Geoff had subconsciously envisioned them, metal armor in an ancient style; instead, they were dressed in modern IPO-issue tactical gear, plundered from lockers aboard the Minuteman 9. All of them carried some kind of gun except for Hippolyta. Cassandra Sandsmark dropped out of the sky, landing right behind and a little to the right of Diana. Geoff glanced over at Diana, who smiled and shrugged. Kilovolt, for her part, let hope show on her face. "What the hell?" the Q-boss blurted out. "Where the bitches come from?" Steve Rogers said quietly, "He won't leave here alive." "Fire! Fire I said! KILL THEM!" There was a sudden movement from two of the Black Hoods, and the Q- Boss fell backwards, screaming, into the equipment well at the base of the crane. The scream started to echo, and went on for five seconds before ending very, very abruptly. "So, uh... can we talk?" called one of them, walking forwards with his hands out at his sides. The other who had pushed the Q-Boss came with him, hands equally empty. "Listen," the speaker said as he came closer, "please don't kill us. We're economists, for Christ's sake. The worst we've ever done is rip off Boeing." "Economists?" Diana replied, puzzled. "Yeah," the other Hood confirmed. "We're supposed to be a white- collar crime unit, but since you guys nabbed the Professor, the rest of the management doesn't understand how to use us." He shook his head in disgust. "We're highly trained professionals and all these jackoffs want is for us to pull terror schemes and fucking -bank jobs.-" "Any asshole can rob a bank," the first one pointed out. "-We- can make one -collapse.-" Geoff drew the Canon and brought it into the speaker's face. "What's your angle?" he growled in his most intimidating voice. The Black Hood squeaked. "Okay! I confess! I manipulated the price of dilithium ore to retard Earthforce's starship construction projects through the next three fiscal cycles!" Geoff lowered the gun. "Really? Nice!" The general level of tension in the area dropped. "You realize you guys are dead once the Ten get wind of this, don't you?" Geoff continued. "Nah," said the second Black Hood. "We'll tell them Earl tried to help KV escape and that's why we tossed him down the crane." He said it so casually that Geoff found himself asking, "How many Q-Bosses have you gone through?" They looked at each other. "I dunno," said the first one, "What do you think, Roy? Four this fiscal year?" "About right," said Roy. "They keep getting shot in bank robberies when their backup doesn't show up. This is the first one gone rogue, though, right, Chuck?" Chuck nodded. "Let's face it. We rip off stock markets and screw with resource allocation, and we get to drink fruity drinks and look at half-dressed chicks. Why mess that up? Anyway, KV's a nice kid. Didn't belong here anyway. Earl was a dickhead, and now he's at the bottom of a marine cargo crane shaft. Everybody wins. As long as Hellbringer doesn't decide to kill us all," Chuck pointed out nervously. Geoff holstered the Canon. "I think I can let that pass." As they walked toward the ships, Steve Rogers chuckled. "Geoff Depew, leaving a Big Fire cell operational. I never thought I'd see the day." "Go figure," Geoff said. "But they're EA Security's problem now. Right now that's a no-lose scenario." "Uh," said Kilovolt, who was walking in the center of a square formed by Geoff, Steve, Diana and Cassandra, "can I ask where we're going?" They all paused, and Steve turned to face her. "Miss, I'm Steve Rogers, Deputy Chief of Investigations for the International Police Organization, and we're going to New Avalon. You aren't under arrest, although if you want to consider yourself in protective custody for a little bit, you can do so. We're going to get you re-situated, have you checked out, and then you can work out what you want to do next." "Wow," she said, a big smile spreading across her face, "that sounds like what I was hoping for." "You'll like New Avalon," Geoff said as they started walking again. "By the way... do you have a real name, or did they take that away from you too?" "No, no, I have a real name. It's Makoto. Makoto Kino." "Well then," Captain Rogers said with a smile, "let me be the first to congratulate you on your successful escape from Big Fire." MONDAY, MAY 18, 2410 2017 HRS UTC EARTH ALLIANCE GOVERNMENT CENTER GENEVA, SWITZERLAND Earth Alliance President Ciaran Ndege sat in his private office on the lower floor of his official residence and thumbed through the small pile of heavily vetted mail that his staff had cleared to be placed on his desk. The business of state being conducted almost entirely electronically nowadays, most of this was personal correspondence from the various acquaintances (and even friends of a sort) he'd accumulated over a lifetime of holding public offices. The letter at the bottom of the pile, though, he didn't recognize. It was in a curious envelope, not quite the right dimensions for standard stationery, and the paper was thick and an odd shade of green. Intrigued, Ndege picked up his letter opener, slit the end of the envelope, and pulled out the single sheet of the same paper that was inside. The letter, if that's what it was, had no salutation and no closing, just a dense block of text that appeared to have been handwritten. He didn't understand the language, but the letters appeared to be Greek. More puzzled than ever, he tapped a key on his desk. "Chokhmah," he said. "Online," a synthesized voice replied. "I need an analysis of this message, please," Ndege said, placing the letter face-down on the glass top of his desk. "One moment, please." There was a pause; then the AI's voice said, "This document is a narrative poem in the Homeric style, written in a archaic dialect of Greek appropriate to the period. It appears to be specifically directed toward you. A full translation of the text into a roughly similar verse form will take some time." "Just give me the outline, please." "In effect, it is a declaration of war," said Chokhmah dispassionately. "Or, if you prefer, of vendetta. It states quite baldly that, in the fullness of time, you and your military commanders will suffer for the fate of lost Themyscira." Ndege flinched, dropping his letter opener. Snatching the letter from his desktop, he looked at it again, then took up the envelope and noticed that it had no stamp or postmark. Visibly rattled, he got up and looked around the room. "How did this get in here?" he demanded. "I have no data," Chokhmah replied blandly. "Get a security team in here at once!" Ndege ordered. "And get me a secure connection to Clark." Ten miles away, a small, dark-clad figure emerged from the River Arve, removed and discarded her disposable diving gear, and walked nonchalantly away from the river. Within moments, she joined the pedestrian flow of students and tourists, becoming a face in the crowd: just another Japanese schoolgirl in a European capital Japanese schoolgirls visited by the jetload at this time of year. After walking for five minutes, doubling back twice, and assuring herself that no one was following her, she slipped into a public telephone kiosk and shut the door. After applying an illegal software patch to the telephone, she dialed a number that routed her call through three satellites and a subether hop to Alpha Centauri and back before connecting her to an Answerphone on a table in a deserted loft apartment in Thailand. "It's Gothic," she said. "Tell Hellbringer his package has been delivered." Then she hung up, left the phone booth, and disappeared into the night. /* Def Leppard "The Golden Age of Rock 'n Roll" _Yeah!_ (2006) */ Eyrie Productions, Unlimited Ladies and gentlemen, and Bacon Comics Group The golden age of rock 'n roll... presented SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT Vol. 1 No. 78: Everybody hazy "The Antianeira Incident" Shell-shocked and crazy Screaming for the face at the window The Cast Jeans for the genies (in order of appearance) Dresses for the dreamies Geoff Depew Fighting for a place in the front row Diana Prince Sgt. Ramirez, EFGF Whoa, whoa, whoa Social Butterfly It's good for your body, it's good for Gothic Lolita your soul "Dutch" Whoa, whoa, let's go Rokuro Okajima The golden age of rock 'n roll Benny Revy Well you get a little buzz Rosalita Cisneros Send for the fuzz Cassandra Sandsmark Guitars getting higher and higher Queen Hippolyta The dude in the paint Balalaika Thinks he's gonna faint Makoto "Kilovolt" Kino Stoke more coke on the fire Q-Boss Roanapur (Earl) Black Hood Chuck Whoa, whoa, whoa Black Hood Roy Gotta stay young, you can never Ciaran Okamura Ndege grow old EA Autoclerk System CR67 "Chokhmah" Whoa, whoa, whoa Utena Tenjou The golden age of rock 'n roll Special Agent The golden age of rock 'n roll will Geoff Depew never die As long as children feel the need Chief to laugh and cry Benjamin D. Hutchins Don't wanna smash, just a smash sensation Description of Roanapur Don't wanna wreck, just recreation courtesy Philip J. Moyer Don't wanna fight, but if you turn us down Suspicious We're gonna turn you around The EPU Usual Suspects Don't mess with the sound The Amazons As You See Them Here Show's gotta move created by William Moulton Marston Everybody groove There ain't no trouble on the The Livewires created by streets now Adam Warren So if the going gets rough Don't you blame us Geoff Depew will return You 96-decibel freaks, whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa It's good for your body, it's good for your soul Whoa, whoa, whoa The golden age of rock 'n roll You gotta stay young, you can never grow old The golden age of rock 'n roll It's good for your body, it's good for your soul The golden age of rock 'n roll That's all! EPILOGUE I MAY 22, 2410 INTERNATIONAL POLICE STATION BABYLON 6 B'HAVA'EL SYSTEM, CENTAURUS SECTOR "I am... unaccustomed to this sort of thing, to say the least," said Hippolyta. "We Amazons are a proud people. We've been exiles before, but it's an uncomfortable novelty for us to be refugees, forced to ask for the help of others. It is only fortunate that you are a woman. Under the circumstances, if you were a man, my sisters might well -revolt.-" She meant the remark as a joke, but it was too close to the truth to really work as such, so it fell a little flat. Utena Tenjou smiled anyway (albeit a little sadly), even through the visible weariness on her face. "I know the feeling, believe me," she said. "But please, don't think of yourselves as refugees, Your Majesty. I think you're all going to be very comfortable in Cephiro." EPILOGUE II 08:45 AM AVALON STANDARD TIME MARCH 25, 2411 (TEN MONTHS LATER) INTERNATIONAL POLICE HEADQUARTERS There was a knock on the door. Steve Rogers looked up from his paperwork and said, simply, "Come in." The door opened and Geoff Depew stepped in, closing the door. "Welcome back, Geoff," Steve said, standing and shaking the burly man's hand. "I saw you were active again." "I came to where I was needed. God provides. But I'm actually here on business." Steve nodded. "What do you have?" Geoff pulled out of his coat a chip. "This came to me through a dozen drops from our friends in Roanapur. They're apparently picking up stakes and moving somewhere. But they did find some information out for me." He put the chip in the reader on Steve's desk. "Earthforce got the information on Themyscira from old World War II files on the failed Waffen-SS assault there," he went on. "It was dug up by a records officer in the Vienna intel center - one Major John Smith." Steve was silent for a moment; then he shook his head gravely. "No. Not John Smith. Johann Schmidt." "That was the name the leader of that Tomodachi Nazi op told me to tell you. The one who heiled Hitler. Who is he?" "Hold on a moment." Rogers tapped keys, and presently the holocube in his office brought up the faces of two women - Diana and Hippolyta. "Geoff," he said, "tell them what you told me." Geoff repeated the information, and Steve sent the data to them as well. "I have reason to believe that 'Major John Smith' is an alias for Johann Schmidt," Steve repeated. Hippolyta's regal face went a little pale. "Who is that?" Diana asked, echoing Geoff's early question. "Johann Schmidt was a bellhop in a hotel in Vienna in the 1930s. I don't know exactly why - something in his tragic mess of a childhood - but he was a twisted monster, a remorseless murderer, even then. "In 1938, after the Anschluss, Hitler stayed in that hotel. He had a chance encounter with Schmidt, and one monster recognized another. The Fuehrer saw so much hatred for humanity in Schmidt that he took the bellboy back to Berlin and trained him trained to be his personal agent of terror. Within two years he was the scourge of Europe, as much symbol as man. His codename was 'Der Rote Schaedel'." Geoff sucked in breath through his teeth. "The Red Skull," he translated. "That's why he said 'heil Hitler' when the Fed Nazis make a point of never saying it." Rogers nodded. "He's not a Federation Nazi. They're just a bunch of idiots who don't understand the history they're aping. He's a -true- Nazi. The -last- true Nazi." He paused, picking up the thread he'd been following before Geoff's interjection, and went on, "In late 1940, FDR ordered a secret project to create a countersymbol to oppose the Red Skull's status as an icon of fear and oppression. Which is where I came in. The Skull and I have a lot of history, all of it bad. I'd be amazed he's still alive, except that I learned long ago that his particular breed of malevolence never dies." He sighed. "Only the people in this conversation know about this. Some people know parts - Gil Grissom, the Chief - but only the four of us know this entire story. I may call on you to help me to find out how he lived this long. The Skull was a global-level threat, and I can only think he's a galactic-level threat now. Whatever he's up to, you can bet it'll be something with terrible consequences for free people everywhere. He has to be stopped... at any cost. Are you with me?" Geoff Depew looked the older man in the eyes, and nodded. "I am." "As am I," Diana said. "You have my support, Steven," Hippolyta finished. "I stand behind you, and so will all of New Themyscira." He nodded. "Thank you all. Keep this quiet. Hippolyta, Diana, I'll be sending you coded information. Geoff, hold on a moment." The screen went off, and Geoff waited. After a few moments' work at his terminal, Rogers finished his work and turned a grave face to the younger man. "Geoff. I can't express how much I need you to keep this quiet. I also need you to keep an eye out for agents who we may be able to bring in for a strike on the Skull, once we find him." "He's probably back on Earth," Geoff said. "He has a power base there, if he can manipulate MiniPax into something like kidnapping the population of Themyscira." "Right. It'll be hard, but keep an eye open for people we can work with." Geoff nodded. "I will. I'll report to you as I find them. Sorry to bring bad news to your doorstep." With a tired smile, Steve shook his head. "Not your fault. What are you up to today?" "Armorer wanted me to help him test some pistols for possible SA use." Geoff shrugged. "It's a living." "Don't you ever go home?" Steve asked half-jokingly. "Oh, no worries," Geoff replied. "Actually I'm leaving early today. If I'm not in Perth by 6:30, Sara'll have my head. Women with super-speed hate to be kept waiting at restaurants." Steve chuckled. "Well, good luck with -that,-" he said, showing the younger man out. Once Geoff was gone, Steve returned to his desk, touching a sequence of keys. The windows polarized; the door locked; the holoscreen showed one word: PASSCODE. "George Catlett Marshall, Jr.," he said quietly. CAPTAIN AMERICA SPECIAL STORAGE ACCESSED. FUNCTION? "Open new file. Title... " He thought for a moment; then a tiny smile crept onto his face. "... Invaders." E P U (colour) 2008