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13

"Aftermath"

By Ed Ainsworth

 

"You're right. We do need to talk. Take a seat, Ollie."

Buddy gestured to the ground just to the left of him, his eyes never leaving the structure of Flesh in front of him, his illegitimate Daughter suspended inside there, with the Artifacts of power littered around it.

"I guess you're here representing someone, right? JLA? JSA? S.T.A.R Labs?" Buddy stabbed. He had an inherent distrust for the establishment, probably because it tried to abolish what he'd worked for at every turn.

"Checkmate, actually." Ollie pulled his cowl down and sat down next to the environmentally friendly hero, reaching out to slap his shoulder, but deciding that a lack of skin would make it a painful gesture.

"Sold your soul to the Devil, did you?" His eyes barely flicked from his daughter.

"Eh, it was a pretty good bargain."

Ollie picked up the Orb of Ra, feeling its weight in his hand.

"Pretty powerful little arsenal you've got here, Buddy."

"Not intentional, Ollie. I'd rather none of this happened."

Regret was written into every syllable. Buddy wasn't quite the man of action he had been shown to be, the events of the last few months had put him through the ringer. He'd barely had enough time to take stock of his supposed new powers - Something Lady Quark had secretly been training him on - He didn't want to worry his family.

The fact Checkmate had tried to buy his "services" before that whole Swarm business by sending him a big fat cheque and an "Animal Cave" or whatever from its funding. Buddy had ignored both things. He was a down to earth guy after all.

In fact the only thing worse than this was his trouble controlling his temper, he felt like the Red was rising up inside of him, boiling his blood.

"And what DID happen, Buddy? Checkmate's effectively slamming itself against the wall trying to work out what you're doing here. We've got all our surveillance details and technology on you and we've still got no clue - Part of me LIKES that you can do that to them." Ollie smiled at Buddy, who looked away from his Daughter for the first time in hours.

"Why are you watching what I'm doing, Ollie? I'm sure there are better things for you to be doing than focusing on me." Buddy narrowed his eyes. He knew Ollie had a long history of hating "The Man", but also a history of working within the confines of it.

"You had the New Guardians after you, Buddy, as well as essentially collecting and coming into contact with some of the most powerful entities in the universe. You know that James Highwater essentially doesn't exist?"

"He's a spy?" Buddy questioned, surprise actually appearing on his red features.

"No. He just doesn't exist. No birth records, no educational details, social security number, anything. He's like a blank spot, yet he's got the knowledge and the abilities and the funding. How does that work?"

"I have no idea." Buddy looked up at the sky, wondering when Ollie was going to stop trying to brow beat him. He had a lot of respect for him, but didn't particularly want to be on the receiving end of the famous Green Arrow bluster.

"And where's Vixen?" the bowman asked, almost arbitrarily.

"I don't know."

"Yes, you do." It was clear he knew that Vixen had been part of the whole "problem" and she was investigating what Highwater was doing.

"I don't Ollie. Normally we could feel each other, but she's.disconnected from the Red or something. She's just not there anymore. She might even be dead."

"You'd better hope she's not, Baker."

"What do you want Ollie, I assume you're here other than to make idle threats and ask me if I am making a Metahuman army."

"Alright. Cutting to the chase." Ollie smiled "I like that. We're here to make you an offer."

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The final layer of dirt falls onto the Coffin of Tristess, former Substitute mother of Anna, and Animal Master. Her essence returned to the Red, it left the Baker bloodline as the sole Animal Master of the World, Maxine Baker and Buddy were the only ones capable of using the abilities that trapped the Antigon in another universe, or creating creatures never seen before.*

(*See DC's Animal Man Series - Animalistic Ed )

She was a true hero, and yet there were only five people at her funeral. One of which was Maxine, the other being Zauriel, speaking her last rights; Elasti-girl standing alone, and Martin Stein holding the hand of his new beau, Traci 13.

"It's not right, Ms. Farr," Maxine said, after Zauriel had finished, reaching up and taking her hand.

"She didn't deserve to die like that. Nobody did."

"I know Maxine." Rita knelt down and hugged the child gently, whilst Traci and Martin stood in silence.

"What are we going to do now?" Traci said finally, after more than a few awkward minutes of silence.

"Perhaps we should go our separate ways?" Zauriel mused, looking at the grave dug in the Baker's yard.

"I think you should all stay," Maxine suggested, though the house was completely wrecked. Ellen was trying to salvage as much as she could, while Cliff had.disappeared somewhere. He said he needed to get something done.*

(*For More on Cliff, See Blue Beetle #6 - Bug-Eyed Ed)

"I don't think your Dad would want us all staying with you, Maxine?" Rita said gently, trying to appease the child without upsetting her.

"No, Silly. Daddy's going to make a deal with the Arrow man and we're going to have somewhere else to live."

Rita looked dumbfounded for a moment, before turning her gaze to Martin, Traci and finally Zauriel.

"Maxine, Sweetie, how do you know that?"

"My little sister showed me." She beamed, pointing across the verge, and over to where Buddy, Ollie and her sister were located. Rita grew to just over 9 feet tall to see over the small rise.

"She's right."

Zauriel grunted quizzically, before turning his attention back to the Sky.

"Maxine, what else does your Sister tell you?"

"That there are trying times ahead, Mr. Angel-Man. We're going to be tested by everyone and everything, only natures on our side now, that's 'cause nature is my sister." She smiled again and skipped over the rise.

"She says that the Presence has noticed us, and that we should start to prepare for the worst. What's a presence?"

"The worst thing that could notice us, Maxine," Zauriel said, his heart suddenly becoming very, very heavy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Traci looked up at Martin. His features were visibly heavier for him today, thought it didn't make her love him any less. There was something special between them, even if there was an enormous age gap.

She stopped looking at him for a moment, clutching the side of her head, and falling into his arms.

"Traci?!" he asked, worriedly, pulling her head back and looking into her eyes.

"The City, Martin. Something's happening to the City."

"Something like what?"

"Something.Something's trying to replace it."

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Tefé Holland made her usual pilgrimage into the depths of Africa, trying to work out exactly what was going on in the world, why the Red was so damaged and strange and why she didn't feel it until Buddy Baker pointed it out.

She was supposed to be the Avatar for the Red, not Buddy, and now.now she wasn't so sure. Her boots left deep indentations in the ground, despite the fact it was a dense area of rainforest, belaying the fact that for miles around her there was nothing but Desert sands and winds, she felt as though she was being watched.

She was the Red now, or least she was the Parliament, and she needed to get something from this area. She needed to make it her new home. She sat down in a clearing and waited for a few minutes. The world had changed a great deal since Buddy had re-woven the thread of the World, it wasn't just the core elements anymore, Instincts, the Mind, even the lesser groups of the Red were gone. She felt that absence of the Bacteria and the Virus' and realized that those elements were no longer part of her arsenal. Something she would have to learn to live with.

As she sat within the Clearing, she began to commune with the Animals around her, before she discovered something slightly disturbing.

She was not alone.

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"An offer?" Buddy asked, looking back to Ollie who'd laid the Orb of Ra down onto the ground again.

"Yeah. We want you to work with Checkmate, like Vixen used to before she went AWOL."

"Work with Checkmate? Do you mean like some kind of 'Government Spies', or something like that? I'm not prepared to put myself or any of the others in that situation, Ollie."

"We're not talking about spies, think of it as more.Specialists. You got an alien infestation, you call the Martian Manhunter, you got yourself a Nest of Magicians, and you get yourself Shadowpact. You got yourself a Mountain that shambles like a man, we call you guys in." Ollie spoke with a smirk, it was clear that he found himself amusing. At least someone did.

"So, we'd be at your beck and call, is essentially the long and short of it, you get files on all of us, past history, sex, where we live, family, powers, weaknesses. Don't think I've not heard about what Batman did to the League all those years ago."

"We're not compiling any more data on you Buddy..."

"Any MORE?"

"Well, you gotta give us some credit. We're not exactly going to stop looking at you because you got yourself a white picket fence. I don't agree with a big brother system anymore than you do, but that's the way it happens regardless of our opinions on it."

"If I do this I want that to stop right now. I'll have some demands that need to be met, Ollie."

"Yeah, I figured you might, which was why I brought this bag of millions of dollars."

"What? Are you serious?"

"No, I'm not." He opened the bag which was filled with Arrows and his Costume.

"That's not funny, Ollie. I'm not really in a position to have someone playing with me right now, my house is a mess, my son's run off on some vendetta, my Daughters in some flesh thing, and the rest of my damn family is in pieces. I don't even know where Ellen is."

"I'm probably not the best person to ask for marriage advice, Buddy." Ollie looked somber for a moment before slapping an envelope down on the ground beside him.

"Decommissioned Bat-Cave, or whatever. You know Bruce likes to be prepared -He had a series of caves, or hollows or whatever you want to call them burrowed into the Earth, we want you, assuming you take us up on our offer which includes salary, to live there, with your family and your presumed team-mates. There's probably enough space for everyone, and it's not really that far from here - there are a few requirements that you need to meet though."

Buddy stares at the piece of paper, to his Daughter, and to the B'Wana beast helmet laying on the ground beside the womb. "Requirements like what?" Buddy asked, considering the possibility.

"Well, for starters I want you locating Vixen - She's valuable to us, she has information on this Highwater guy. We want you to investigate a few things for us as well, problems within the city, specifically people seeing less tramps and more.monsters; The weather patterns around the world are being warped - some top scientists at Checkmate think it's something warping the fields of the planet; and we want detailed files on some of the more.ghostly members of your little group here; Like what the hell you just did and why you needed Brion, or this thing." Ollie throws the Orb of Ra into the air, and catches it again.

Buddy takes a long breath and picks up the envelope, just in time for Maxine to come running up to him, and pluck it from his hands.

"I knew we had a new place to live, Daddy." She smiled at him, and Buddy felt happy and guilty with obligation at the same time.

He couldn't let his family down, or his new friends. Traci, Martin, Rita, Rex, Tashana, Zauriel, they all needed a place now, and Tristess wouldn't have given up her life if it was just going to be wasted in his self pity.

He took a deep breath and opened the Envelope, extending a hand to Ollie.

"You've got a deal."

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NEXT ISSUE:

How Many more storylines can we cram into this series? MORE Is the Answer! We'll have to go Biweekly or something!? Some Answers are on the way, some searching and a whole new Status Quo for the HUGE team we're setting up - Also, keep an eye out for a One-Shot following up on two characters who left us at the end of A-Man 12!