| Issue #1 | Issue #2 | Issue #3 | Issue #4 | Issue #5 | Issue #6 | Issue #7 | Issue #8 | Issue #9 |

Stockholm, Sweden

She walked in like she owned the place, and as far as her dress and demeanor showed, she very well might have. The dress was low cut and high on the hip, attracting attention to just the right places, and keeping attention from others. She looked around the hotel lobby, gave everyone a chance to get an eyeful, then continued on. She walked past the front desk and headed straight for the express elevator. She turned to the bellhop carrying her bags.

"I'm going up alone," she said. "Have the bags sent up in an hour."

"Of course, Ms. Carlyle," said the bellhop.

Ms. Carlyle entered the elevator and entered her key card for access to the penthouse level. The elevator shot up.

Ms. Carlyle reached into her purse and removed a compact. She opened it, looking into the little mirror. She adjusted her hair slightly and replaced the compact. The elevator stopped. The door opened onto a sprawling penthouse with a majestic view of the city. Standing in front of the view, was a man wearing a silk bathrobe, smoking a cigar.

"Hello," said Ms. Carlyle.

The man turned to Carlyle, smiling. "I missed you. I was beginning to think you wouldn't come."

"I'm here," said Carlyle. "You look like you were expecting me anyway."

He looked down at his robe. "I had hopes."

"I'm beginning to see that," said Carlyle. She walked up to the man and embraced him, kissing him passionately. The man embraced her back, running his hands down her back, fumbling with her dress zipper. His mouth ran across her neck, her breath hiking briefly.

His abdomen exploded in pain.

His vision swam as he grabbed his belly, desperately trying to alleviate the pain. He landed on the carpeted floor, barely able to breath let alone speak. Ms. Carlyle straddled his head, her look of passion completely gone.

"Consider yourself lucky I'm not here to kill you," she said before she slammed her foot down on the man's head, knocking him unconscious.

She took the compact out of her purse again and flipped it open. She looked into the mirror, which changed into a display screen. "Ready when you are," said Carlyle.

"On my way," said a voice over the comlink. Seconds later, a knocking was heard from the balcony sliding door. Carlyle headed to the door and unlocked it. A man walked in, wearing a black costume with a red bird emblazoned from shoulder to chest to shoulder. His head was completely covered in a form-fitting helmet with a single red eyeslit crossing the face. The rest of him was completely black. In the shadows of the night, he was nearly invisible.

"You must be Blackhawk," said Carlyle.

"Interesting alias for you," said Blackhawk. "Kitty Carlyle?"

"The perfect alias for a Catwoman, wouldn't you say?"

 

DC Infinity Presents

#3

"Power Play"

By Mike Hintze

 

" Zard is in our custody ."

Bruce Wayne turned to face the viewscreen with Barbara Gordon's image. She wore light makeup, but Bruce could tell she had been up all night.

"You should get some rest, Barbara."

She gave a wry smile. " How many times has Alfred said that to you ?"

"A few thousand."

" And how many times did you actually listen ?"

Bruce smiled himself. "That's not the point. I should have listened."

" I'll get some rest after this briefing, I promise ." Barbara looked away from her screen. " Dick will be home in a bit anyway ."

"How is Kate? Did she make it through unscathed?"

"Yes ," said Barbara, " The Wizard took the full brunt of any violence. I had my doubts about her Bruce, but she has really pulled her weight ."

"She learned the hard way," said Bruce. "I was impressed with her defense of Clark during his trial. When I dug deeper and found her secret, I thought she could become a part of Checkmate. I'm glad to see I was right."

"Well ," said Barbara, " No one has died yet ."

"I was very clear with her," said Bruce. "As I am with all our agents. No killing."

" Zard produced an interesting name ," said Barbara. " For his contact in the Society ."

"Who is it?"

" Jervis Tetch ."

Bruce frowned. "I wouldn't have thought he would still associate with them. My intelligence indicated he had broken away from the Society."

" Well ," said Barbara, " Whoever this new leader is must be pretty convincing ."

"Get some rest, Barbara," said Bruce. "I'll check in with Kate."

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

Kate Spencer closed her eyes as she took a drag from her cigarette. The Wizard was unconscious, giving her some peace and quiet for a few moments. She was about to light another when her belt began to beep.

She put out the cigarette stub and opened the communicator. "Manhunter here."

"This is the Red King. Good work on Zard ."

"Thanks," said Kate. "What do I do with him now?"

"Leave him for the authorities. They'll be dispatched after you leave ."

"Where am I heading?" asked Kate. "Home?"

"Not yet ," said the King, " You'll be heading to Prague, where you'll be joined by other agents. You'll receive more details when you arrive ."

"I haven't seen my son in weeks," said Kate.

"I know ," said Bruce. " This will be the last mission for you for quite a while. I promise ."

Kate took a deep breath. "Fine. When does my flight leave?"

"There's a private jet waiting for you ," said Bruce. " Hangar 52 ."

"I'm on my way," said Kate, annoyance in her voice. "Manhunter out."

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

Jefferson Pierce rubbed between his eyes, trying to stave off a headache. Paperwork surrounded him, military briefs and other assorted information that was required to be personally reviewed by the President of the United States. The night was getting late, and if he had been married, Pierce might have been eager to spend quality time with that special someone. As it was, he had no one in particular to go home to, and that left him feeling lonely at times. He had made history as America's first African-American president and had put through numerous reforms since he took office. Still, sometimes he thought he might trade it all for the opportunity to spend life as a normal person, without the burden of the Presidency or his super-powers.

He turned back to his reading. Another brief on the War in Umec. One of the touchiest issues he had been left with from the previous administration, it was one that needed to be handled delicately. Troops deployments, cooperation with other coalition forces..he so wanted to send the Justice League in to clean up the mess, but he knew that wasn't feasible. Not only because the current League rumored to exist was secret and rumor, but also because he knew the people would never stand for such superhuman involvement in world affairs. He marveled at how people expected Superman to save them from Brainiac, but would take offense when Superman stopped a Middle Eastern dictator.

The fichus plant in the corner moved briefly. Pierce glanced up and chalked it up to an air vent kicking in. he looked back down to his paperwork..but something was wrong. He could feel it. Part of his abilities as Black Lightning was to manipulate and sense electrical fields. He could always sense when someone was in his vicinity, because he could sense the electrical impulses of their nervous system. He didn't sense anything like that..but he felt an absence, almost a void in the electrical aura of the Oval Office. He stood up, looking around. He pressed the intercom button on his phone.

"Agent Truman, could you come in please?"

No response.

"This is the President to all Secret Service Units. Please respond."

Still..no answer.

"Hello, Mr. President," came a voice from beside Pierce. He turned towards it, but no one was there. "Hello, Mr. President." Came from his other side, then in front, then behind him. The voice sped up faster and faster, getting high pitched as it accelerated.

"HelloMrPresidentHelloMrPresidentHelloMrPresidentHelloMrPresident!"

Pierce was knocked across the Oval Office and slammed into the far wall. He hit the carpet and struggled to regain his composure. Pain exploded in his sides as he felt kicks hit his midsection like a jackhammer. When they stopped, he coughed up blood.

"Speedbolt, stop," came a female voice. Pierce looked up to see a woman whose image seemed to flicker, as if a television reception was out of sync. "The President deserves to see who his killers are." Speedbolt stopped his rabbit kicking, making himself visible to Pierce for the first time. He wore black with a red slash across his chest. His face was masked with crimson goggles over his eyes. He fidgeted, as if not moving was uncomfortable to him.

A large man stepped up beside the woman. "You and your games, Fantom," he said. "President Pierce, you should know that we have been sent here to see to your death. Whether that death is painful or not is up to you."

"What Raze here is trying to say," said a man covered in leather from head to toe like an S & M gimp, "Is we want some information from you." He knelt down beside Pierce. "Personally, I hope you go the painful route. I'm good at dealing pain."

"Enough, Enigma," said Raze. "Pierce, you will have only one chance to answer our questions. Deny one answer, and you lose a limb. Not a finger, a limb. Answer correctly, and you lose nothing. When we're done, you die quickly or from massive blood loss. Your decision."

Enigma looked into Pierce's eyes. "Question Number One.."

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

The man named Stellarus stood atop the White House, concentrating. The electromagnetic signals that were the lifeline of the House below were being rerouted and changed by Stellarus' mind. His was the ability to rearrange wireless and other communication signals, in effect anything under the electromagnetic spectrum. The White House security staff had all been incapacitated by Speedbolt, but all electrical recordings going to any and all external agencies were seeing everything as normal. E-mail, security footage.everything was being recreated by Stellarus. He couldn't continue this indefinitely, but it would be more than long enough for the purposes of the Shadows.

Stellarus heard a rustling behind him. Still focusing on his work, he turned his head slightly to see what it was. Leaves blew by. He returned his full attention back to the task at hand.

Stellarus heard another rustle and turned again. He had barely a second to see a man clad in black and gold before everything went black.

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

"Think carefully," said Raze. "Answer the question."

Jefferson Pierce looked raze in the eye as he answered. "Go to hell."

"Very well," said Raze. "Enigma, take his leg." Enigma's arm transformed into a long serrated blade. Speedbolt stepped up to hold Pierce down. He reached to grab Pierce..

..and flew across the Oval Office, shattering the large window and landing on the White House lawn.

The assailants looked back at Pierce, surprised. Pierce was now standing, electricity arcing off his body. His eyes glowed like suns.

"I have a question for you," he said. "Do you want your asses fried or broiled?"

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

Speedbolt sat up and shook his head, in a daze. His hyper-accelerated metabolism allowed him to recover much quicker than a normal person, but his movements were still jerky. He had no idea how he had arrived on the White House lawn, but he knew this meant their attack would be noticed sooner rather than later.

He looked up to the rooftop to see Stellarus. He wasn't there. Speedbolt activated his headset/comlink. "Stellaruscomeinwhereareyou?"

No response.

He got to his feet and ran on the spot several thousand times in the space of a few seconds, working some kinks out from the blast he had taken. He moved to head back into the White House when another electrical discharge hit him. This time, he was out like a light.

A man in gold and black stood several feet away, the taser he had fired ticking quietly from his wrist launcher. He released the wires and removed a short stick from a leg harness. He twisted the stick and it telescoped out to six feet in length. His suit was almost entirely black, with a small golden chess piece emblazoned on his right breast. His helmet was black with a gold visor.

He fired a grapnel to the roof, continuing his original plan to head towards the Oval Office. He shot up to the window and swung into the Office.

President Pierce was firing a bolt of electricity at a large muscled man. The man was struggling to get closer to Pierce, but his muscles were jerking more and more uncontrollably. He saw a leather clad man unconscious on the floor and a woman that was difficult to see clearly getting up from the floor. He whipped his bo staff around and clocked her on the head. Hard to see or not, she went down and stayed there.

The black and gold man went towards the large assassin and was about to intervene when Pierce held his hand out. "No," he said. "He's mine."

Pierce seemed to take a deep breath, and then electricity seemed to pour out of him and into the larger man. The attacker flew out of the room, crashing through several walls before he stopped.

"Broiled it is," said Pierce to himself.

The gold and black man approached Pierce. "Are you all right, sir?"

"I'll be fine," said Pierce. "Might have a few broken ribs. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm from Checkmate, sir. I go by the codename Black Knight."

"Why am I not surprised," said Pierce. "Big brother is always watching."

"The authorities are on their way, sir," said Black Knight. "The metahuman responsible for the security failure has been dealt with, as has the speedster."

"Which means you have to leave, right?"

"I was never here, sir." Black Knight headed to the broken window and leaped out. Pierce walked to the edge of the glass and looked out. The Black Knight was gone.

The door to the Oval Office burst open, Secret Service agents swarming in. "Sir," said the agent in charge, "Thank God you're all right. Everyone in the building has been taken down. We just now got word of your distress." He looked around the room. "Sir, what happened?"

"I'm not sure, agent," said Pierce. "Get me to a medic. I have some ribs that need work."

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

A block away from the White House, the Black Knight went into a copse of trees. He retrieved a bag and removed his helmet, changing to civilian garb. Within a minute, he came back out wearing a suit and tie. He turned and began to walk back to the White House.

If the President had been attacked, the White House would need to release a statement. As Press Secretary, it was Jonah McCarthy's job to put the right spin on it.

As Black Knight, it was also his job to keep the President alive.

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

Next Issue: Connor Hawke! The Q Society! And the Mad Hatter! All this and more in Checkmate #4!