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#4

"Meetings & Debriefings"

By Mike Hintze

 

Prague

The music reverberated through the floor, the walls, the entire building. The bass made his heartbeat feel as if it were a piston in a V8 engine. He had heard of places like this before, but had never seen one like it.until now.

Connor Hawke sipped at a mineral water as he watched the people dancing on the wide warehouse floor. The techno beats thumped and the people moved with the music. The men wore open dress shirts or even nothing at all from the waist up. The women wore even less. Their sweaty bodies moved with the flow, lost in the cacophony of the DJ's magic.

The lights shifted constantly as spotlights flew across the dance floor. Disco balls reflected light everywhere in a multicolored array. It was as if a rainbow had done LSD and was tripping out over everyone. Connor had been on the moon and into the depths of the jungle. This place strangely reminded him of both.

"Mr. Hawke?" asked a beautiful woman from beside him. Connor was speechless. She had an aura about her that said she could take care of herself. Such a combination was paradoxically attractive and alarming. She didn't really fit into this crowd, slender dress or not.

"That would be me," said Connor with a small smile. "Nice night."

"Could be nicer, but then that would mean I was at home in bed." She picked up Connor's drink and sipped while taking out a cigarette from a small purse. As she lit up, Connor's smile disappeared. While there were people in the dance hall smoking god knew what, none of them were right beside him. He hated the small of nicotine, preferring incense if he had to breathe in anything other than air.

"You must be Kate," said Connor.

"That I am," said Kate Spencer, aka Manhunter. "Just arrived from Rome . The King said to meet you here." She looked around the bar. "Kind of an odd place to meet."

"Hard to be followed here or be eavesdropped on," said Connor.

"I was told there were other agents here," said Kate, "What's your talent, besides standing by a bar ignoring the women ogling you?"

Connor shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, my talents are a bit more subtle," he said, "At least, more subtle than that dress."

Kate looked down at herself and shrugged. "I came directly from a hot date, you might say."

"Zard? Nice work."

Kate showed a moment of surprise. "I'd ask how you knew that, but I'm not really surprised. You're obviously higher up the ladder than I am."

"Still," said Connor, "The Wizard is no slouch. Not anyone could have taken him down."

"Hawke, my dear," said Kate, "Paris Hilton could have taken him down with a high enough skirt and a baseball bat. The man likes his ladies."

Connor finished his drink. "Well, time to head out. We're meeting the others soon."

"What, they couldn't meet us here?" asked Kate, perturbed she had to come to the bar in the first place.

"Let's just say," said Connor, "That even in a crowd like this..they'd stand out."

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

"Good work, Agent McCarthy."

"Thank you, sir," said Jonah McCarthy, also known as a Black Knight within Checkmate. He couldn't see who he was speaking to, and the voice was masked electronically, but then Checkmate had always been a secretive organization. He had served under Max Lord and while he didn't agree with Lord's stance on metahuman extermination or his methods of leadership, he had still served his country. Now, a new leader of Checkmate had been appointed, and he was determined to serve under this regime as dutifully as the past one. For one thing, he thought a whole lot more about this leader's methods than Lord's. Killing was definite no-no, which to Jonah only made things more interesting.

He had been placed within the White House as Press Secretary, ostensibly to watch over the President and report any findings to Checkmate's Red King. The Red King had been very specific on the task set before Jonah: observe and ensure the safety of the President. He was not to spy or otherwise seek out information about the President. Considering his duties as Press Secretary, this was a welcome order. Dealing with the press was nearly monopolizing his time as it was.

Jonah had assisted the President in staving off an attack by a group of metahumans called the Shadows. They had neutralized White House security and attempted to kill the President, until Jonah intervened as the Black Knight. In the end, he found the President wasn't nearly as helpless as he seemed when the Commander-In-Chief used electrical powers to incapacitate the Shadows that Jonah himself hadn't gotten to in time.

"Sir, may I speak freely?" asked Jonah into the encrypted commlink.

"Certainly," said the masked voice of the Red King.

"Why wasn't I informed that President Pierce was also the former super-hero called Black Lightning?"

There was a pause before the Red King responded. "That wasn't your task. You were to aid in his protection. The knowledge you now have is very heavily guarded and considered extremely confidential. It is not to be shared with anyone, understood?"

"Yes, sir," said Jonah, "I just think that that knowledge would have been advantageous. I certainly would have facilitated my battle tactics differently had I known the President could flash fry an elephant."

"Be that as it may," said the Red King, "You performed admirably. You will continue in this assignment for the foreseeable future."

"Yes, sir," said Jonah. "Is there anything else?"

"Keep up the good work, Jonah." The communication ended.

Jonah shut off the commlink and glanced down at the Checkmate-issued armor folded on the table before him. He packed it into its space within his briefcase and closed it. He was due back at the White House within the hour.

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

"My, my..this is a surprise."

Jervis Tetch stared at the computer monitor with barely repressed glee. On the screen was the other end of this conversation. A good looking man with short brown hair and piercing eyes. The current leader of the new and improved super-villain Society.

"I've been informed that the Wizard has disappeared," said the Ultra-Humanite.

"As have I," said the Mad Hatter. "Witnesses say he was with another of his lady friends when they retired to his rooms. I daresay the place is bit of a mess. Quite the scuffle."

"I want his chip activated," said the Humanite. "He's been compromised. Kill him."

"Oh, no worries, it will be done." Tetch smiled.

"Do it now. That is why I employ you, after all. Certainly not for your wretched company."

Tetch brought out what looked like a television remote. He pressed a series of buttons. "Done. The Wizard is no longer an issue. Anything else?"

"No," said the Humanite. "But I may have more use for you shortly. Stay close by."

"Of course," said the Hatter, smiling so broadly his buck teeth seemed to take up his entire face. "At your bidding, milord."

"Don't forget that," said the Ultra-Humanite. The monitor went blank as the communication ended.

"Your time will come," said Tetch with a frown. "You may think your little mind tricks work on me, but oh no, that's very far from the truth, little Humanite. Soon enough, the Society will belong to me..and all you'll be is a poor man's Maxwell Lord."

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

"You shouldn't have been so hard with him, Bruce."

Barbara Gordon, Checkmate's White Queen, sat in a holoconference telepresence chamber within her Nest in Gotham City . Around her, nearly indistinguishable from reality, were virtual images of the command structure of Checkmate: Oliver Queen (White King), Tom Tresser (Black King) and Sasha Bordeaux (Black Queen). With Bruce Wayne acting in overall command as Red King, they comprised the central command structure of Checkmate.

Bruce turned to Barbara in the virtual meeting room. "He's a soldier that follows orders," he said. "He needs to be treated as such or he'll suspect something is up. Remember, this is the agent Lord had assigned to watch Diana in the Themysciran Embassy under false pretenses."

"He didn't know the extent of Lord's insane plans," said Barbara. "Like you said, he was following orders, serving his country."

"Can we move on people?" asked Oliver Queen. His career as the Green Arrow had taken many interesting turns over the years, but he never thought the most interesting turn would be as Oliver Queen and not his bow-slinging identity. "I have a date in an hour..and you all know Dinah hates to be kept waiting."

Bruce gave Ollie a wry look. "Very well, let's continue. Since you're so keen to start, what about the status of the White Knight?"

"Well," said Ollie, "Connor and Manhunter have met up and last I heard they were heading to the general rendezvous in Prague . The Outsiders are on standby."

"Satellite imagery indicates that the intel from Zard is righteous. The location he gave indicates several dozen heat signatures as well as metahuman powertags. If that isn't a Society hangout in Prague , I don't know what is."

"Excellent," said Bruce. "I have faith that the team can handle it. Sasha? Tom?"

Sasha leaned forward. "We've established infiltration into several terror cells that Oracle has indicated have ties to the Society in the past: Al Qaeda, etc. Our agents are deep undercover and so far, everything is in place and going well."

"Excellent," said Bruce.

"Also," said Tom, "The Bialyan Government is putting out feelers again for illegal metahuman genetic weaponry, specifically gene modification. I have Huntress assigned to it."

"Keep me in the loop on that one," said Bruce. "If things get too hairy for Helena , I want all available backup supporting her. Bialya may be a joke on the world political scene, but they're more desperate than most. Their current President is especially one to watch out for."

"Perhaps we should pass this intel on to Jeff?" asked Oracle.

"Not right away," said Bruce. "I want us to contain it before anything becomes public. The last thing we want is to advertise that a backwater nation like Bialya has the ability to obtain illegal weaponized metahuman genes."

A chime sounded. "That would be our company," said Bruce. "Oracle will mask our appearances from here on out." The virtual room shifted to allow another individual to appear.

He was an older man, yet his eyes had a fire in them that matched Bruce's. he wore a stylish black suit with a gray mock turtleneck. His silver hair was parted neatly on the right. He wore a ring on his right middle finger that had a golden dragon inlaid on the face.

"Martin, glad you could make it," said Bruce. His face and voice were changed. He now looked nothing like his normal appearance. "Everyone, this is Martin Questor, head of the Q Society."

"Greetings," said Questor. "I wish to thank Checkmate for the recovery of our Aztek armor suit. It has been a most vexing time trying to extricate it from the hands of the Society."

Bruce's face never wavered. He had never told the Q Society that Checkmate had happened across the battlesuit quite by accident. "Our pleasure," said Bruce. "If anything, it allows us a chance to discuss relations between our respective organizations."

"You know my stance on governmental involvement in our organization," said Questor. "The United States will not be given a foothold in the Q Society."

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Bruce. "Still, you have to admit a fourth-dimensional mirror falling into the Society's hands was a near disaster. If the Society had gotten the Mirror Master in front of it, who knows the damage that could have been wrought."

"Agreed," said Questor. "Be that as it may, the death of Uno against the creature you called Mageddon, and what we called Tezcatlipoca, has taught us the value of superhumans working together. We meant for Aztek to act as a lone soldier, when the threat we had foretold was defeated only by Aztek working with the Justice League. Since the League is no more, it seems that Checkmate might be the best option going forward."

"How do you mean?" asked Ollie, his image and voice also masked.

"We feel that the evil in the world needs to be fought against," said Questor. "The threat we foretold is not the only one this planet will face. Aztek is still needed. I understand many of your American super-teams now work under the umbrella of Checkmate. I desire Aztek to work with you, to learn and become a great warrior..to act as an envoy between Checkmate and the Q Society. She will learn from you, and we will have formal relations between our groups."

"You understand we will want proof that Lex Luthor is no longer associated with the Q Society," said Bruce.

"That, I can assure you, is no longer the case," said Questor. "But proof you shall have."

"In that case," said Bruce, "We would welcome your envoy, and are sure she will find a home with us as an agent of Checkmate and the Q Society."

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

Next Issue: ' Shades of Gray' Part 1 of 6 ! Checkmate finds itself up against a rival organization, and the stakes are raised significantly when The Red Bee (from DCI's '52') makes his presence known! All this, plus a shocking event that will reverberate throughout the DCIU!