Post by DiscipleofBob on Jul 1, 2014 21:42:10 GMT -5
Issue 13, Shroud of Death, Part Two
"I can't believe it. Batman! You got to meet the goddamn Batman!" Etta chatted excitedly. After all the commotion and drama, Vanessa had been eager to get home. With some kind of invisible sniper on the loose, Diana agreed.
"I'm sure seeing the lunatic was worth getting shot at over," Vanessa said as she accelerated.
"He seemed of sound mind to me," Diana said as she looked out the window. Although she knew that even if the assassin followed them, outside of a major mistake on the assassin's part, there was little chance of seeing him coming.
"You've got to admit that a grown man who dresses like a bat every night and punches criminals is..."
"Awesome?" Etta interrupted.
"Crazy," Vanessa finished
"As far as I know such a hobby could be quite common here. There is much in your lives I would find odd, but it is vitally important for me to keep an open mind if I am to understand your culture. Would you say the same thing of me for wearing my armor into your streets to do battle?" Diana explained honestly, though Vanessa couldn't help but feel she'd inadvertently insulted her.
"No, I-I didn't mean you, Diana."
"If my behavior is odd by any of your cultural standards, Vanessa, please let me know. I would not want to appear unsound of mind while I fight off evil." It was an honest request, but one that Vanessa took harshly. Although they had their differences, many of Vanessa's initial judgment about the semi-mythical Batman could apply to the Amazon princess who fought Nazis and beast-women in the streets. She turned paler than usual as she tried and failed to think of a response.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply-". She was cut off as flashing red and blue lights and a siren pulled up behind the jeep. "As if today couldn't get any worse," she grumbled as she pulled over. Thankfully Diana was still in civilian clothes and in the back seat, so unless the officer happened to look very carefully they should be fine.
The motorcycle-riding policeman dismounted his bike and sternly approached as Vanessa meekly rolled down her window. "I'm sorry officer, was I speeding?"
"License and registration," he said gruffly.
Vanessa provided the appropriate documents as the officer glanced over them. "Vanessa Kapatelis?"
"Y-yes, that's me."
"Please step out of the vehicle, ma'am."
Vanessa's eyes turned to saucers. She'd never gotten a ticket before in her life. Visions of her being arrested for a traffic violation, a conviction losing her chance at Ivy League. Her life as she knew it could be over. That feeling was becoming strangely familiar in recent weeks. "W-what's wrong, officer?"
"Just step out of the car."
Casting a nervous glance at Etta and Diana, she complied. As soon as she shut the door behind her, the policeman's arms wrapped around her, a foul-smelling cloth pushed to her mouth.
"Vanessa!" Diana cried as she threw open the door and lunged at the assassin, who grinned and allowed one glance at his true form before he and the girl vanished from sight, along with the motorcycle that might not have ever even existed. "Show yourself!" she shouted at the wind. "I'm right here, Beast! If you want my life come and take it if you think you can!"
The whole scene just happened too quickly for Etta to react. She rushed out of the jeep and looked around in vain. "What the hell just happened?! Where's Vanessa?!"
"He took her," Diana said breathlessly as she searched for a track, a clue, anything that could help her follow the Beast.
"Took her where? Is she going to be okay? Oh god... What is he going to do to her?" Etta was in hysterics.
"I... I don't know." She couldn't even tell which direction to go. Diana continued to scout the area, expanding her perimeter, but not letting Etta fall out of her sight, just in case the assassin were to return.
"She had the keys too," Etta said in slow resignation as the two were stranded in the middle of the forest road. Diana could certainly traverse the distance either way with her new power, but without any lead to go off of, things seemed hopeless.
Minutes passed by with Diana even taking to the skies in a futile attempt to locate the assassin. Etta sat against the tire of the jeep, not even thinking to call a locksmith or a tow truck or the police. What could they do what Wonder Woman couldn't?
The road remained deserted for what seemed like forever, until something roared in the distance. What sounded like a jet engine approached, Etta wondered if Diana had somehow summoned her plane, but in a few moments a black shape screamed around the corner like a banshee.
What Etta thought at first was a tricked out black sports car, quickly took shape as it drew closer and it's stylized haunting black curves became visible. An image Etta had only seen in grainy secondhand footage.
The Batmobile screeched to a halt. Etta slowly stood up, at a complete loss for words. It was as if a mythological creature had suddenly appeared in front of her. The hatch opened and a black shadow leapt out in front of her
"You're... you're..."
"I need to speak to Wonder Woman. Where is she?" Batman asked sternly.
Partly out of fear, partly out of being star struck, all Etta could do was manage to point up. As Batman looked up, Wonder Woman quickly landed. "Vanessa's been kidnapped."
"I know."
"You have a lead on the Beast?" she asked hopefully.
"I do."
At Batman's motion, Etta looked on the back of her shirt and found the almost microscopic device. If she didn't know what to look for, she easily would have assumed was a piece of lint or something innocuous.
"After the assassination attempt I tailed you. I figured Anatoli with the potential use of his newfound powers would do the same, possibly take a hostage. I put tracers on both of your friends before you left the city."
"So you know she is?"
"Not yet. Whatever device or artifact that's making Anatoli impossible to find or track is masking the tracer as well. Once he's no longer carrying her, I should be able to track her location and lead us right to his current base of operations."
"So cool..." Etta muttered in amazement at the tiny device before snapping out of her momentary wonder. "Uh... Mr. Batman, sir?" she nervously got up the courage to ask, "Is Vanessa going to be all right? Is this guy going to hurt her?"
Batman briefly hesitated before replying. "Right now your friend is being used as bait for Wonder Woman. Anatoli isn't afraid to kill hostages, but he also tends to avoid collateral damage. She's only in danger if he were to make demands and they weren't met." Etta was distraught until the caped crusader added, "But we aren't even going to let him get that far."
"If this was your plan, why didn't you tell me about this before?!" Diana asked angrily. "Did you intentionally put Vanessa and Etta's lives in danger?!"
"No more than they already were. I had to make room for the possibility that he might have been standing next to us the whole time and listening in without either of us being able to know. Any plans either of us were open about, he'd find a way to counter. Now that he has a hostage, he'll be headed back to his base to plan his next move."
"It won't be long," he added, handing a small black communicator to Diana. "I'll get in touch with this when I find something. You may want to suit up," he advised before leaping back into the Batmobile and screeching off on the hunt.
Vanessa woke up with a pounding headache, wondering if Etta had slipped her a drink that was actually alcoholic again. Realization quickly dawned on her as she was somewhere dark and dank. Her arms were suspended above her, bound and tied to the ceiling.
Directly in front of her, far too close for comfort, was a tall, muscular man in body armor and thick leather, weapons of every kind strapped to his body. The man seemed to pay no attention to her and only attended to her restraints.
"You're awake. Good. Are these bindings too tight?" the man spoke in a gruff Russian tone with breath that reaked of ash and stale food. "I can loosen them only so much, otherwise it would defeat the purpose."
It took a moment for Vanessa to realize the question wasn't rhetorical. "Are you always this nice to your hostages?"
The assassin shrugged. "It is pointless to inflict unnecessary harm. It would not serve me in any way."
"How can someone who kills people for money talk about unnecessary harm?" she regretted saying it as soon as the words left her lips, but the assassin seemed to be apathetic, even willing to answer honestly.
"Because the people who pay me believe that the harm is necessary. Me? I am only a weapon to be pointed at a target."
"Then why are you being pointed at Di- I mean, Wonder Woman? You really think killing her is a necessity?"
"It is to my employer." "She's called the Baroness, right? She's insane! She's not worth whatever payment she's offering you!"
At this, the Beast suddenly jerked his head, shooting a glare that made Vanessa instantly shut up, but it quickly vanished. "It is not good for someone so young and innocent to know a name like hers." It sounded more like a caution than a threat, as if merely uttering the name drew upon some kind of curse. "She has given me more than enough payment in this," he said as he pointed to his leather mask. "The ability to conceal myself as anyone or anything. To vanish from sight altogether. To evade every sense known to man. To walk among the world unseen as death itself. Truly an assassin could not wish for a greater boon. But for her, I would do this for free."
"Why?!" Vanessa tried in vain to understand the inner workings of the assassin's mind, "Why would you want to work for someone like that? Do you have any idea of the things she's done? Of the lives she's murdered?"
At this, he laughed. "More than you could know, little one."
Vanessa stared in hurt confusion until Anatoli elaborated.
"Let me tell you a story, little one. About a boy growing up in Russia during the Cold War. Where everyone was starving under the iron fist of leaders who claimed all that we had in the name of communism. This boy grew up with a loving but poor, sickly family, living life in poverty until he too started a family of his own. He had a wife and daughter, until the day the Spetsnaz came. Do you know of the Spetsnaz, little one?"
Vanessa hesitated. "I read about them in school. Kind of like Russian Green Berets?"
Anatoli laughed again. "Compared to the Spetsnaz, any soldier your America produces would be like toy soldiers. The Spetsnaz were molded to be ruthless. To not feel pain or any emotion. We were taken from our families in the middle of the night. The lucky ones got to believe their familes still lived. Me? I got to watch them slit my family's throats."
Vanessa gaped in horror. "And you worked for them?!"
"There was no choice. Not even death was an available alternative. Every day we would be thrown in the worst hells imaginable. Being dragged in the middle of the night for training exercises. To be tortured until you could show no sign of pain no matter what they did to you. To be forced to wade through a swimming pool of rotting meat and blood. This was life for the Spetsnaz. And no one left the Spetsnaz. The only relief was a bullet in the brain.
"Anyway, as I'm sure you can imagine, the little boy grew up to be a hardened Spetsnaz, and even among them rose to the top of his ranks. He was the best they had ever had, with over a hundred kills.
"One day, the assassin gets an assignment. A woman has wormed her way into the bedchambers and the minds of some of Russia's top officials. Not only is she privy to state secrets she ought not to know, she's been influencing their decisions to suit her whims. Some say she single-handedly fueled the Cold War for decades by inciting her thralls to provoke the West.
"The assassin knows where his target will be. He scopes out the place, takes out the guards, isolates the target, and slits her throat from behind.
"But that doesn't stop her. She rises up like the undead, so the assassin puts two bullets in her skull between the eyes. It seemingly does nothing, and the woman only smiles. She approaches, and the assassin knows he is not dealing with something that he can kill. She would take his life right then and there, but the woman instead makes an offer.
"To serve her and only her. To carry out her every whim. And to systematically kill everyone in Russia who has ever heard of the name Baroness Paula Von Gunther."
"So you think you owe her? What did she actually do to get you out of the Spetsnaz besides motivate you?" Vanessa tried to understand.
"You misunderstand the point of the story," Anatoli continued. "This was not about granting freedom from the military masters of the Spetsnaz. This was about discovering one's true master. The day I met the Baroness was the day I learned that God is a woman, and she is a terrible, wicked, vengeful god."
"That's insane!" "Is it? Have you ever met anyone who by their presence alone could inspire such in all who beheld her?"
"No."
"Oh?" the assassin smirked in amusement as he pulled out a knife and held it to Vanessa's throat, suddenly reminding her of whom she was dealing with. "Tell me, if I were to torture you right now, and force you to tell me all of Wonder Woman's weaknesses, what would you say?"
Despite the terror of her situation, Vanessa managed to steel her glare back into Anatoli's cold, ruthless eyes. "Nothing," she boldly declared. "She doesn't have any weaknesses."
Anatoli smiled. "I believe you," he said as he holstered the knife. "Or at least I believe you believe your words."
"Why should you?" It was a stupid question, and one that could have gotten Vanessa in far more trouble, but she found herself asking it all the same.
"Because you and I, we've something in common," Anatoli smirked as he exited the room, closing the door behind him. "We both have idols we worship."
The door sealed shut on Vanessa, leaving her alone in the darkness to reflect on Anatoli's words.
Diana flew back to the ranch at top speed while Etta was left with little choice but to stay with the car. She could call for Colonel Trevor to bring a spare key. Diana threw off the restricting civilian clothing as soon as possible, quickly changing to her armor offering comfort, security, and confidence. No sooner had she finished doing so when the small device Batman had given her clicked on.
"I've got the signal. Meet me at the Gateway Hydroelectric Dam."
"I will be there soon," she confirmed. Fortunately by now she knew enough of Gateway City's layout that the dam would not be difficult to find.
With the Sandals she could probably have made it in plenty of time, especially if she really pushed their limits. But not only would constantly rocketing to and from the ranch be risky for the family, the best way to secure Vanessa's safety required stealth. For that, the Heart of Air had all the speed and none of the exposure.
Undetectable, the jet rocketed across Gateway City to the dam nestled in the wilderness, far away from the city limits or any other inhabited communities. Diana let her jet hover over the dam, the only signs of its arrival being the sound of its engine like constant thunder and the sudden windstorm in the area. The dam, a large concrete monstrosity, seemed to be abandoned, or at least automated. There were no signs of workers, travelers, or personnel of any kind. More unnerving was the lack of a Batman or a Batmobile.
Leaping down from the cockpit, the Amazon surveyed the area. When she felt the presence approach behind her. Spinning around preparing to strike her attacker, her fist would have dislocated Batman's jaw if the caped crusader hadn't deflected the blow with his gauntlet.
She let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't injured her ally. "Don't sneak up on me like that. I almost took your head."
"You almost tried," Batman corrected, although neither were planning on drawing out the bravado. "I've been investigating the area for possible entrances. Unfortunately the signal's coming from the lower level maintenance tunnels, and there's only one viable entrance. The rest of the dam is sealed tight."
"Then we only have one path to take. Lead the way."
Batman nodded and leaped off the side of the dam. There was a nearby rusted service ladder leading down to the maintenance entrance, but both ignored it as Diana dove after Batman without hesitation. While she used the flight powers of her sandals to slow her descent just enough to land softly, Batman glided in descending circles on the sails of his cape.
Diana was about to enter, when Batman stopped her. "What is it?" she asked softly as Batman crouched down, studying the subtle patterns in the dirt.
"There's been heavy traffic here recently," Batman deduced. "The Beast isn't working alone."
"Who with?"
"Judging from the slightly different boot sizes and patterns, I'd say at least a dozen heavily armed mercenaries working under him. A different kind of insurance in case Anatoli wasn't up to the task," Batman calculated.
"Or if I brought outside aid," Diana reasoned.
Batman nodded in agreement, his eyes turning to the heavy steel watertight door. "With a set up like this, the door's probably booby-trapped. Go ahead and turn the latch, but open it slowly." A door like this would have normally required the full muscle strength of one or even two or three strong workers just to budge loose, but Diana managed to open the hatch with one hand. Following Batman's instruction, she only barely edged the door open, enough for the masked detective to peer inside and see the active claymore mine.
"There's a bomb rigged to blow if you open that door up any more," Batman explained. "I can disarm it. I'll just need a little time to..."
As he reached for a pouch on his utility belt, he saw Diana rear back and throw all of her weight behind one powerful kick, knocking the thick hatch door off its hinges onto the mine, destroying it and muffling the explosion.
"We don't have time for this. Every minute longer we take here is more time for them to prepare more traps. Either way the element of surprise is lost when the only option for us is through their front door. If they don't know we're here already they will soon regardless if we charge in or dismantle their traps piece by piece." Wonder Woman wasted no time charging forward.
Whether or not Batman agreed was irrelevant. There wasn't any time to argue. "Guess we're taking the direct approach," Batman said as he followed behind.
The hallway stretched on in the inky damp darkness, lit only by the occasional dim emergency light. Furthermore, any other rooms or branches along the path seemed to have permanently sealed off. Only one way forward through the occasionally twisting dark hallway.
As Wonder Woman quickly turned a corner, Batman heard a familiar whirring robotic noise from ahead. He immediately snapped to the corner for cover. "Wonder Woman, get back!" he tried to warn, but the automatic gatling turrets ahead already started firing a neverending stream of bullets, illuminating the hallway with strobe explosions.
Accompanying the rapid gunfire was the immediate rapid percussion of bullets ricocheting off of metal. Wonder Woman was forced back just enough to enter Batman's vision again, where he could watch as two steady streams of gunfire deflected off her wrists, even arcing midair to strike on Wonder Woman's only protected points.
As much as he wanted to study the phenomenon for possible future applications, there were more immediate concerns. Withdrawing two razor sharp Batarangs, Batman quickly whipped his arm around the corner, each angle of every movement meticulously calculated instantly, so that the Batarangs arced under Wonder Woman's arms and struck their respective targets, immediately jamming the turrets.
"Careful. Only one of us has indestructible wristbands," said Batman with mild irritation.
"All the more reason for you to continue to remain safely behind me," Diana replied without missing a beat.
Neither had any desire to continue the banter with lives at stake as they continued down the corridor. "We're almost there," Batman said quietly as he kept glancing at the blinking display on his cuff and listening to the light beeping noise only his suit could pick up. Picking up the pace, they eventually reached the first branch in the hallway. Two paths, one left, one right. Both stopped in their tracks as Wonder Woman waited impatiently for information.
"Well? Which is the correct path?" Batman remained silent, glancing at his display in frustration. "How much further? Does your machine still pick up Vanessa's signal?"
"The signal's coming from this exact location," Batman explained in frustration as he started searching until he found what he was looking for, the small blinking tracer hidden behind some electrical pipes, along with a faded picture of the two girls, ripped apart and taped back together. "He found the tracer," Batman growled.
"So Vanessa may not even be here?!"
"No, they wouldn't have time to relocate the hostages even after finding the tracer. We need to search the rest of this dam and do so fast."
"Agreed," Wonder Woman nodded before realizing something. "Wait, did you say 'hostages?' As in more than one?"
"A message from Anatoli," Batman explained as he flicked the photograph to Wonder Woman. "One hostage is a last-ditch desperate plan. Two hostages provide leverage." Batman quickly surveyed the rest of the area. The traps had been rigged only just recently, and some of the directional signs had been hastily secured to the wall. "He had this whole place set up as a trap even before his attempt on your life this morning, except for this," he explained holding up the picture and tracer. "He knows I'm helping you, so he's set up a situation where the only logical course of action is to split up to find the hostages, especially since they could be kept in separate rooms."
"Then we split up," said Wonder Woman.
"That's what Anatoli wants. He and his men will have a better chance of picking us off separated."
"But if we stay together and only find one of the girls, then searching for the second becomes problematic as he and his men can tighten their snare. And with only one hostage, they'd be more desperate and more likely to hurt her." Diana faced down one of the corridors. "We split up. None of our options are ideal, but at least this way we can cover more ground."
Batman grimaced. He had been planning on Wonder Woman's instinct or whatever let her deflect Anatoli's previous attack. As far as he could tell, Wonder Woman was the only possible way to detect an assassin who could otherwise evade every honed sense, every tracking technique, every high-tech scanner at Batman's disposal. But he couldn't deny that the hostages' safety were more important.
No further instruction was necessary. Both knew the dangers each other faced and what was at stake. They nodded and hurried down their respective paths, Wonder Woman gliding down the corridor as fast as she could without slamming into walls on every turn, and Batman running but keeping all of his senses perked for even the smallest clue or the slightest hint of danger.
Batman scoured the hallways for side rooms, air vents, sewer grates, anything that could possiibly keep him less exposed than in the cramped hallway. As soon as a trap sprung, or if Anatoli or one of his men showed up, he wouldn't have any cover. No back up plan aside from his reflexes.
After descending a few flights of stairs, his path led to another thick, sealed hatch door. Turning the valve required both hands and some effort, especially while he tried to mute any sounds he made as much as possible.
His caution proved fruitless when the heavy iron door suddenly sprang open of its own accord, suddenly jerking Batman inside the room.
Upon his sudden arrival, several guns were cocked and readied to fire. Six mercenaries scattered throughout a large room lined with large pipes and water tanks. Batman noted their gear. Five had AK-74 Carbine's pointed at him, while the last wielded a Saiga shotgun. At their hips were Makarov pistols and ballistic knives. The weapons combined with their armor but lack of insignia told the story for him: ex-Spetsnaz.
"Surrender now, Bat," the shotgun-toting mercenary ordered in a thick Russian accent. "We don't get paid for your head today. Will shoot if you make trouble though." He put on a braver face than the thugs Batman was used to taking down, but he could see the cold sweat and nervous twitches of each of the Spetsnaz.
Batman remained impassive with the stone cold glare of a gargoyle, even in a seemingly hopeless situation like this one. "One chance," he growled. "Tell me where the girl is." It was not a question, it was a command, one that didn't come with an 'or else.'
Elsewhere in the dam, in one of the upper, larger rooms, more Spetsnaz soldiers waited in silence, their various weapons pointed at the sealed hatch door. Any second now someone would try to carefully open it and sneak through, only for the spring-loaded trap to swing the door open for the Spetsnaz to ambush the unsuspecting victim.
The door never gently rattled or creaked. Instead without warning it rocketed off its hinges. The giant metal slab slammed one of the Spetsnaz against the far wall as his body fell limp.
Wonder Woman followed, rocketing behind like a missile.
The rest of the hardened Spetsnaz soldiers, although certainly shocked at the ferocious display of strength, wasted no time emptying their clips. Sparks showered from Wonder Woman's bracelets in a neverending stream.
Wonder Woman glided across the room, spinning in midair as her instinct demanded, deflecting shots from multiple angles.
<"SOMEONE AIM ANYWHERE BUT HER WRIST!"> one of the Spetsnaz yelled in Russian before a ricochet caught him in the knee. His brief wince combined with several mercenaries having to reload their weapons gave Wonder Woman the opening she needed to charge one, grab the soldier by his armor, and hurl him at the ceiling on the far end. Not only did he slam against the ceiling, but gravity brought him down on another.
A still standing mercenary plucked the clip of a grenade with his teeth and tossed it at Wonder Woman, who sidestepped across the room with super speed. Even with several more grenades, she zigzagged between explosions with ease, even catching one grenade in midair and tossing it back, destroying the catwalk one mercenary with a sniper rifle had been positioned on.
As he fell to the floor in a heap, Wonder Woman shoulder-checked another soldier into the concrete wall, leaving a Spetsnaz-shaped crater.
With one soldier remaining, Wonder Woman immediately charged him, snatching the gun out of his hand with one arm, kicking his knee to bring him down the ground, and then twisting his other arm in a painful hold. <"Where are the hostages?!"> she demanded in perfectly fluent Russian, as if the Spetsnaz wasn't surprised enough. <"Talk or I break you in ways you've never even heard of!">
Although the Spetsnaz had been trained against torture, he hadn't prepared for anything like this. Left with little alternative and not wishing to draw out a lengthy, painful interrogation, the Spetsnaz pointed out the next room.
<"Much obliged, comrade."> One solid punch and the last Spetsnaz was out.
The two Spetsnaz carefully approached Batman. "Hands in the air, and do it slowly!" they ordered. Obviously they knew Batman by reputation, but what they couldn't know that the caped crusader had already figured out fifteen different scenarios and was now weighing them against each other for efficiency and least number of casualties.
None of the Spetsnaz even noticed a few small black pellets drop seemingly harmlessly to the floor, whereupon they exploded into smokescreens covering half the room.
Batman knew he had to act fast if he was going to avoid killing any of the mercenaries. Grabbing the two nearby Spetsnaz by their heads, he slammed them together then hurled them down into the ground just in time for a barrage of gunfire to pass over the three of them. Two down, mild concussions, fractured skulls, but they've been through worse.
Somersaulting behind a nearby tank, the Batman quietly edged his way around the perimeter, far outside where the other Spetsnaz believed he was.
Silently climbing to the top of the tank, Batman dropped down behind one of the unsuspecting soldiers. He whipped out two Batarangs and flicked them into the AK-74s, jamming them. Then he put the nearby mercenary into a sleeper hold, cutting off his movement as well as his circulation. With a free arm he managed to pull out a grapple gun and fire at the farthest Spetnaz's shotgun, pulling it out of his hands and clubbing another with it as it clattered to the far side of the room.
By now one of the still standing Spetsnaz unholstered his pistol, only for Batman to disappear with his choking victim behind one of the storage tanks. The three still standing Spetsnaz moved in formation to surround the location, all wielding pistols, but somehow in that short instance, Batman had vanished again, leaving behind an unconscious mercenary behind the tank.
The three whipped around, trying to catch some vague glance of the shadowy vigilante, but to no avail. Another Batarang whipped out of the shadows, this time rupturing a nearby steam pipe to explode onto the unsuspecting three.
Blinded, deafened, dazed, and confused, Batman easily snuck behind one, grabbed him by the ankles, and flipped him backwards, landing hard on his shoulders and neck.
The last two were even easier in their state, a few alternating punches in their faces and guts and both were quickly incapacitated.
He could have left one conscious enough to interrogate, but Batman already knew what he needed.
Opening the hatch to the darkened pump room, Batman found hostage tied up and suspended from the ceiling, gagged as well. Wasting no time he threw a Batarang to cut her down and catch her, carefully removing the gag. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."
Vanessa nodded silently. Being rescued by an Amazon champion was far different than being rescued by a black, shadowy phantom that seemed to embody fear itself.
<"SCREW HIS ORDERS! THE BAT WILL NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE!"> Batman whipped around to see one of the injured Spetsnaz having mustered just enough energy to reach a console outside the pump room and smash the rigged button. Carring Vanessa, Batman rushed to the only exit but fell just short as it sealed tight, emergency locks on the other side taking into place. "DASVIDANIYA, BAT!"
Vanessa could stand under her own power, so Batman focused his energy on getting the door open, pouring all his strength and even banging on the hatch, to no avail.
"You can get us out, right?" the teenager asked hopefully, but received no response. As if things couldn't get any worse, red emergency lights started flashing. Machinery started in loud, grinding noises, and exposed pipes started pouring water rapidly into the room.
It would be some time before the rising water would make it difficult to move, but time was running short...
Wonder Woman burst into the long abandoned office to find the young blond girl tied to an office chair. Wheeling her around, Wonder Woman easily recognized her from earlier that day. "Your name is Cassie, correct?" The girl nodded, though she was also eyeing Wonder Woman's outfit from top to bottom. "I'm going to get you out of here." Her presence meant Batman was hopefully on his way to rescue Vanessa. Diana hoped he was at least half as resourceful as his reputation suggested. As she set to work untying Cassie, a sudden approaching presence caused her to whip around.
The black vigilante dodged backward, throwing his hands up. "Easy, it's me." Wonder Woman eyed him with confusion. "I thought you were searching the other end of the building. Where's Vanessa?"
"He got Vanessa?" Cassie asked in horror and guilt. "It's my fault. I'm the one who told him about her."
"There's nothing you could have done," Batman reassured her. "Beast is skilled at advanced torture techniques. Best you revealed what you did sooner than risk injury to yourself. Don't worry though, she's safe. I got her out, and had to come back for you two."
"And the Beast?"
"He escaped. Apparently after he found out how we handled the rest of his comrades, he changed his mind about trying to take either of us on. He won't be back in Gateway anytime soon."
"Shouldn't you be chasing after him, then?" Wonder Woman asked.
"I had to make sure that he hadn't gotten lucky with one of his traps. Come on, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole dam was set to blow."
"All right, one moment while I loosen these bindings," Wonder Woman set to work undoing the last of the bindings. As she did, a familiar tug in her wristband caused her to whip around, deflecting a solitary bullet from a smoking gun in 'Batman's' hand.
The truth was easy enough to deduce. "Did you actually think that would work?"
'Batman' smiled, speaking in what now was a clearly Russian accent. "It was worth a shot to see if a disguise could beat your supernatural defenses. I can see now that was a wasted effort."
The 'Batman' disguise faded away, revealing the leather-masked, heavily-armed Beast. Ammunition straps and belts hung from every limb with weapons and gadgets making him a one-man armory.
Cassie was now free, and Wonder Woman motioned to the door. "Get out of here. This is between me and him."
"Hey, I'm not arguing," Cassie said as she bolted around the perimeter of the room and out the door.
"She can go. The hostages have served their purpose. Now this fight can be between just you and me." The two circled each other as mutual predators, each waiting for the other to make the first move.
"You serve the Baroness." It wasn't a question, as she already knew it was the truth. "Tell me where she is." The Beast laughed. "Not under a thousand tortures would I betray the majesty of the Baroness."
"We'll see," Wonder Woman said as she lunged forward, but her fist hit air as the figure in front of her vanished. She didn't need to wonder his location for long as she spun around to deflect fire from an assault rifle in one hand and a shotgun in the other, both sets of bullets ricocheting off.
"We're at an impasse. Two impenetrable defenses. I can't seem to find any way to get around your bracelets, and you can't hit what you can't find." Wonder Woman tried to lunge again, only for the Beast to vanish.
Now his voice was echoing around the room. "Of course I could try to slip a knife under your guard, but you're far too strong for me to approach in melee. That would be stupid of me. So I guess I have two choices: either I keep firing and hope I get lucky..."
Another shot deflected off her bracelets. Wonder Woman turned to see the Beast at the far end of a hallway with a rifle, trying to take potshots. She charged forward, only to see the assassin grin as he pulled out a small remote and pushed the detonator.
Mines detonated all around Wonder Woman, from the sides and below. The massive shockwaves tossed Wonder Woman around like a ragdoll before the floor gave away and she crashed below, rubble falling on top of her. "...or I can get creative."
The water was up to their knees now and only rising faster. Batman tried and failed to force open the door, and was now inspecting it for structural weaknesses. Perhaps he could try dismantling it at the hinges or find a point weaker than the rest, but it wasn't much use. Wonder Woman may have been able to kick one of these things down, but that was only because her strength far exceeded that of any normal human.
"Maybe Wonder Woman will save us?" Vanessa offered.
It was nice of her to be optimistic, but the reality was that they were trapped here to the Beast could get Wonder Woman alone. Even if she could defeat him, save the other hostage, and find them in time, there was no guarantee she'd even know how to stop or reverse the water pumping in.
"Don't you have something that can blow the door open or something?" Vanessa asked out of desperation.
"I have some small plastic explosives, but they're not strong enough to get that door open." Batman started circling the perimeter of the room, tapping on pieces of concrete and exposed pipes. "There's only one way out of here..." he said ominously.
"What? What is it?"
"How long can you hold your breath?"
"Um... a good amount? I'm on the dive team at school," Vanessa answered, unsure of how that would help any way but delaying the inevitble.
Batman started setting explosives on one of the larger pipes in the room.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to drown us faster?"
"No time to explain!" Batman yelled over the sound of rushing water as he pulled Vanessa away and pressed the detonator. The ruptured pipe started spraying water with ten times the force of a fire hose at one section of the wall. Sure enough, the room started filling up with water faster.
Soon the water was up to their necks and leaving very little airspace left. Vanessa was forced to submerge and hold her breath, only now noticing the steady cracks growing where the water pressure was focused, and Batman taking several more plastic-wrapped charges and affixing them to the wall.
Finished, he swam over and grabbed Vanessa, pressing the trigger. Another series of explosions made even more deafening underwater rocked the room. Suddenly the water swirled into a strong current forcing Batman and Vanessa into the undertow.
The water pressure wore enough of the wall down that the charges did the trick, blasting a hole not only in the wall, but in the side of the dam. The two tumbled out of the newly formed waterfall plummeting to what almost certainly would have been their doom.
At the first opportunity he could actually reach for his utility belt in this current, Batman pulled out his grapple gun and fired at the dam wall, latching onto it and pulling himself and Vanessa to safety.
Once safely on the side of the dam, both took time to recover. "That was... crazy," Vanessa managed to spit out. "Wait, what about Wonder Woman?!"
"I can't leave you alone when there might be more mercenaries in the area, but you know her better than I do. You should know she's able to take care of herself."
Wonder Woman lie bruised and bleeding several stories below where the bombs went off. The large amounts of rubble pinning her to the ground didn't help. She was in a vast room with large spinning turbines and other constantly shifting machinery. She tried to get her bearings as a vague shadow leapt down from the floor above, using a grappling hook and rope to slow the descent. At first she thought it was Batman but as he drew closer, Wonder Woman could tell it was the Beast coming to finish her off.
Landing beside her, the Beast didn't even bother to conceal his location. Wonder Woman struggled to break free of the rubble, and probably would have done so if the Beast's arm hadn't lunged forward. Wonder Woman raised her arms to deflect the attack, and for her trouble felt lightning course through her body.
"That was enough voltage to bring down an elephant. I figure it should at least paralyze your arms and the rest of your body long enough."
Had she been at full strength, she might have been able to shrug it off, but her body needed to heal from the explosions and wasn't about to get that chance.
The Beast raised his pistol to Wonder Woman's head. "The Baroness sends her regards."
Instead of a bang there was a loud clang as Anatoli suddenly fell to the floor. Behind him stood a young blond girl wielding a giant lead pipe in both hands. "Cassie Sandsmark sends hers. Asshole." She tossed the pipe to the side and immediately went over to Wonder Woman. "You know, this is my first time meeting a superhero, and I got to be honest, not the best first impression. You might want to work on the landing," she quipped as she started moving some of the rubble, at least enough for Wonder Woman to move again.
"Your assistance is... greatly appreciated... though unexpected given our previous encounter," Wonder Woman grunted. Her leg was twisted in the wrong direction and her arms still had trouble moving. Not to mention several fractured ribs.
"Hey, don't take this the wrong way. I just don't like being in someone's debt. I figure this way we're even," Cassie continued as she helped cleared more rubble away. "That and I figure it's best to get on your good side now."
Suddenly Cassie was picked up by the scruff of her hoodie and slammed against a nearby turbine. Even when the recovered Beast had a gun to her head while his other hand slowly choked the life out of her, her only words were, "Third time today... freaking ridiculous!"
"Well, at least this will be the last. You know what they say here in America. Three strikes," the Beast growled, any calm or rationale he had shattered, most likely by the giant pipe to his skull.
Two muscular arms reached underneath the Beast's own, putting him into a lock and easily breaking his grip on Cassie who scurried away. "You're right," a very disgruntled Wonder Woman spat in his ear, "You shouldn't approach me in close quarters. That would be stupid." Even on one broken leg, Wonder Woman managed to lift the Beast up and bend backwards into a suplex, slamming him into the ground head first.
Before he could try to escape, Wonder Woman grabbed the leather mask and pulled, yanking it off. Once removed it shimmered and transformed into a golden helmet, its radiance matching the Apples or the true form of the Sandals.
"Huh... that's... huh..." Cassie stammered, unsure of what to make of what she saw as transforming bling.
Anatoli managed to bring himself to his feet, dizzy with pain, rage, and likely a severe concussion. "You... Wonder Woman... you're the devil! That's the only explanation!" At this point the one fearsome, calm, collected Beast was a raving lunatic. "The Baroness is a goddess and you are the devil that opposes her!" He tried to run away, staggering as he did so, until he tripped on a piece of rubble, collapsing over one of the turbines.
"It's over, Beast! Give up before you injure yourself!" Wonder Woman slowly approached.
"Never! It is my goddess's will!" He pulled out one last pistol and took a shot. It easily ricocheted off of Wonder Woman's bracelet, but it ricocheted twice more until it knocked one of his guns into the giant turbines. The gun was instantly crushed into shrapnel, but that wasn't all. The ammo belt connected to the gun, wrapped several times around Anatoli's body, fastened into his body armor, continued to be fed into the grinder with no signs of stopping.
"Move! Drop the weapons!" Wonder Woman rushed to Anatoli and tried to pull him out, but now she was fighting against the strength of this dam's engine. Anatoli himself clawed at the straps, trying to do anything he could to tear them, unhook them, anything, but the same setup that ensured he would have a weapon for every occasion and plenty of spare ammunition at all times now backfired.
Anatoli let out a feral scream of pain as Wonder Woman finally managed to tear the straps and set him free. The assassin continued screaming as Wonder Woman realized why.
His hands were gone, replaced by bloody stumps with mangled bone.
<"YOU DID THIS! YOU DID THIS, DEVIL!"> he screamed in his native tongue.
<"I'm sorry, but you did this to yourself,"> Wonder Woman replied as she knocked the assassin unconscious.
The four met up on top of the dam, Batman making sure that Anatoli and all of his men were accounted for once the authorities arrived. "The police and ambulance have been notified. They'll be arriving shortly. I'll keep an eye from afar and make sure no one tries to make an escape."
"And Anatoli's hands?" Diana asked.
"If he's lucky, he may get prosthetics. It's unlikely he'll ever be able to shoot straight again," Batman continued to explain.
"Then perhaps it's for the best, if he will not be able to harm others again," Diana replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Batman warned. "Criminals can be very tenacious."
Entering the nearby Batmobile, he turned back to Wonder Woman. "I'd get going if I were you. To my understanding, the Gateway City Police Department are still considering you a criminal." Batman almost turned away, but then decided to add, "If you keep this up, the good cops will eventually come around."
Diana smiled at what she assumed would be the closest thing to kind words coming from Batman. "Thank you for your assistance as well. I would be honored to fight alongside you again."
"Unlikely. Gateway City doesn't have my resources or the usual criminals I chase, and you'd stick out too much in Gotham." The hatch for the Batmobile closed and it sped off.
"I should go too," Diana told Vanessa and Cassie. "Batman's right. The local police won't take my presence kindly. It would be best if you waited for the police as it would raise less questions. Dr. Helena is coming to pick you both up."
"Wait, you called my mom?!" Cassie said incredulously.
"To my understanding, there is some conversation that must occur, both between you and your mother, and between you two," Diana explained as she handed over the torn photograph. "Good friends are rare and valuable. It would be a waste for you two to throw that away."
Wonder Woman flew up to her jet, leaving both girls to wait and hopefully hash things out.
Later...
Once Anatoli's wounds were bandaged, he was carried on a stretcher to a black ambulance, one that would take care of him but also keep him in custody. Riding in the back with him was a portly, middle-aged, dark-skinned woman. "Anatoli Kynasev, we've been looking for you for some time."
"Then you have found me too late," the broken assassin replied. "I am no more."
"What if I were going to offer you a second chance?" the woman asked.
Anatoli glanced over and noticed the steel, unnerving glare in the woman's eyes. "How could you possibly give me that?"
"You can come work for me. Your skills would be valued, and your knowledge of certain Russian state secrets would be profitable as well. I take it you no longer hold any loyalties to them?"
"I never did," Anatoli responded. "But what could you offer me that compares to what I have lost?"
"You'd be surprised," the woman said as she pulled out a silver briefcase. Opening it in front of Anatoli revealed two cybernetic prosthetic arms with functions Anatoli couldn't even fathom. "Interested?" Anatoli nodded, and the woman slammed the briefcase shut, one word visible on the briefcase's logo: ARGUS.
To be continued...