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She felt her chest light up on fire as she coughed up blood.

The room was dark and musty. She was suspended from the ceiling with chains on her wrists and feet. She could no longer feel her hands, the manacles had cut off circulation and blood was slowly running down her arms. Her eyes were swollen from the several beatings she had gone through, and her jaw was certainly fractured if not broken outright. In any event, her speech was slurred enough that her captors had stopped working her over. She hadn't been raped yet, but the pleasure these men took in hurting her made that inevitability in her mind. Still, if she was going to die here, she was going to out with a bang, and take as many of these bastards as she could.

Selina Kyle's last thought as unconsciousness took her was that working with Bruce Wayne never seemed to end up well for her.

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DC Infinity Proudly Presents

#5

'Shades of Gray' Part 1 of 6

By Mike Hintze

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Work through the pain. Control it. Contain it. Don't let it rule you. Ignore it. Keep moving.

Jason Todd, aka Blackhawk, stumbled as he continued to find his way across the rooftops of the city of Stockholm , Sweden . His ribs were badly broken and he felt his lungs scream with every breath he took. His uniform of black and red was torn in places, an amazing occurrence considering this material was supposed to stop small caliber arms. He had barely escaped with his life, and even now he was unsure how long it had been since the attack. He was sure he had fallen unconscious a few times, how long he didn't know. He wasn't even sure what day it was. His means of communication had been severed, the systems in his uniform rendered useless. He needed to get help. If not for him, then for Selina.

He just hoped it wasn't too late for her.

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Then

"Good morning, Jason," said Bruce Wayne as he sipped his morning coffee and read the newsfeeds from the bank of monitors on the wall.

Jason walked into the office, feeling more refreshed than he had been since his dip in a Lazarus Pit*. Sasha Bordeaux had done it to save Jason's life. In the end, the insanity that his mind had been in was gone, and he was looking at the world with a fresh, if skeptical, perspective.

(* See DCI's 52 # 12-16 - Ra's Al Mike)

"Hey, Bruce." Jason looked at the tastefully adorned office and smiled. Despite everything Bruce had been through and committed to in his life, he still had an impeccable sense of style. Jason liked to think this style had rubbed off on him in his time with Bruce. Now that his mind was clear, he found he owed a lot more to Bruce than he could have imagined.

"How are you feeling today?" asked Bruce. "I know a Lazarus Pit can be quite the mentally draining ordeal."

"Actually," said Jason, "I feel as good as I ever had. The accommodations have been top notch."

"I designed The Pawn to be an entirely self-contained system. Everything we need is right here." Bruce waved his hand at the monitors. "This ship is my nerve center of what will eventually become the new Checkmate. We're totally invisible to outside detection and we're never in the same location for very long."

Jason nodded. "Figures you would have thought of everything."

"Everything that can be taken care of now, has been," said Bruce. "But the most important task of all lies ahead."

"What's that?" asked Jason.

"People I can trust," said Bruce. "Despite all that's happened, I know I can trust you, Jason. You're my son. I want to put everything in the past behind us. We're together again, and that's what matters."

"Well," said Jason, trying to change the subject, "I've been thinking about your offer."

"Let's hear what you think," said Bruce.

"I'm glad you're taking a more proactive stance with the mission," said Jason. "I like what I'm seeing and what I've heard. Bottom line: I want in."

Bruce smiled. "That's fantastic, Jason. I'm glad you think that way."

"What kind of role would I be playing?" asked Jason. "You indicated something unique?"

"I did," said Bruce. "If I'm going to be the Red King of Checkmate, I'm going to need an operative that answers solely to me. Someone I can trust. I want you to be my Red Rook."

Jason was silent.

"Something wrong?" asked Bruce.

"No," said Jason with a grin. "I just realized I need to brush up on my chess terminology."

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Now

"What do you mean we've lost contact?"

Bruce Wayne was not a man to be trifled with. Normally he was calm, cool and collected. Where Jason was concerned however, emotions tended to run a little high.

Barbara Gordon, aka Oracle, aka the White Queen of Checkmate, calmly let Bruce finish his tirade before continuing. "His satellite uplinks are down, Bruce. We had him located near the Bialyan Embassy, then we lost contact. Local police reports indicate a pretty big altercation went down."

"Details," demanded Bruce.

"Metahumans were involved," said Oracle. "But that's not all."

"Out with it!" said Bruce.

"Reports say that a man dressed in red and black.killed a police officer."

Silence enveloped the room.

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The wind raced past her face, rippling in her wake. Below her, the ocean moved as if an invisible hand was moving the water away like Moses parting the red sea. She had passed Mach 10, and was going for a record, if the suit could handle it.

Her name was simply Duo. She was the latest bearer of the mantle of Aztek, an identity created by the enigmatic Q Society to make a champion to defeat the evil god Tezcatlipoca. The previous Aztek, a man named Uno, had given his life in defeating the god machine Mageddon, which the Q Society believed to be Tezcatlipoca. The battlesuit used by Uno was thought to have been destroyed, but it recently turned up in the hands of the supervillain Society. The Outsiders, acting as agents of Checkmate, discovered the suit in the villains' possession and were able to return it to the Q Society. An agreement was reached between Checkmate and the Q Society where Duo was sent to be the new wearer of the Aztek suit, but would also learn and act under the tutelage of the Red King of Checkmate. This was part of a larger agreement between the two organizations, the details of which were still not fully revealed to all.

Duo exulted in the power the suit gave her. The 4D Mirror that powered the suit gave her enhanced strength, the ability to project energy blasts, allowed her to perceive energy fields and even turn invisible. There were other abilities she had been told would be revealed to her in time, but for now she enjoyed her favorite talent bestowed upon her by the armor: flight.

There seemed to be no upper limit to the speeds she could attain. As it was, she had crossed half of the Pacific Ocean in minutes. On land, the environmental stress would have been a disaster. In the ocean, she couldn't believe the wake she was leaving behind her.

She slowed down and came to a stop, floating in the ocean air. The new GPS system installed in the suit told her exactly where she needed to head to rejoin Checkmate on The Pawn. She looked at her chronometer and figured she could be back within seven minutes at a reduced speed. It wouldn't do to capsize her new home after arriving just a short while ago.

Questor, the current head of the Q Society, had told her she was to obey the Red King as if he were Questor himself. While she was unsure why this happening, she obeyed unflinchingly. If this was the destiny the Q Society had for her, then so be it. She would serve to the best of her ability. She was just glad to have a chance to fulfill some of her destiny with the power of the Aztek suit she had thought lost forever with the death of Uno.

"Duo, come in."

Duo cybernetically activated her comlink in her helmet. "Duo here."

" Time to come back, sweetie ," said Oliver Queen, aka the White King of Checkmate. " Looks like something's come up."

"On my way, sir," said Duo, annoyed at the familiar comment. A second later, she was rocketing back to the waiting ocean vessel.

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"He didn't do it," said Bruce. "He knows my stance on killing." He was pacing back and forth on the deck of the Pawn.

"He didn't have a problem doing it before," said Oliver. "I know you said the dip in the Lazarus Pit changed him, but hey, Ra's Al Ghul has had dips in there, too, and he's always come back as a psycho tree hugger."

"This was different, Ollie," said Bruce. "I could see it in his eyes. It was my Jason. He was back. Not that killer Red Hood."

"Not to put too fine a point on it," said Ollie, "But before Jason died, wasn't he a bit off, then too? I heard he let a man die back in the day."

There was a pause. "That was never proven," said Bruce.

"You don't sound so convinced," said Ollie.

"We don't know all the details yet," said Bruce. "There is more to this. There has to be."

"Maybe you're too close to this one," said Ollie. "The kid's your son after all. You can't stay objective on this."

"What do you suggest?" demanded Bruce as he turned on Ollie. "Not only has Jason possibly killed a man, but Selina has disappeared, too. I care for her as well, Oliver."

"Then what are we doing standing around here?" asked Ollie. "Just because we're Kings doesn't mean we can't get dirty with the peasants. The Outsiders are busy in Prague with Connor and Kate. The Birds are off in Japan . Let's go check it out, you and me."

"Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "No, as Green Arrow and Batman."

"Let's go," said Bruce as he headed for the interior of the ship.

"Hm," said Ollie. "He never even corrected me on that naming order. He must be spooked."

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Duo landed on the deck of the Pawn in time to see the large aft deck open up, revealing a sleek jet with vertical takeoff and landing gear. The wings were shaped like a stylized bat-wing. Running towards the jet, was one man.

"Duo," said Green Arrow. "Just in time. We're off to Stockholm , and we could use a little muscle."

"Just the two of us?" asked Duo.

"No," said a man draped in black and grey. He wore a cowl and cape that, despite the Pacific sun, seemed to make his entire body seem like a ghostly apparition. "The three of us."

Batman jumped into the cockpit of the jet, followed in the passenger compartment by Green Arrow and Duo. Minutes later, they were airborne and headed for Stockholm .

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He saw his quarry from a mile away. The radiation tags were working as promised. He dropped the special binoculars that detected the tags and put them back into his pouch. He checked his weapons one last time and ensured they were all loaded and ready for action. Finally, he withdrew his sword, its keen blade reflecting the moonlight.

"Time to face your maker," said Frankenstein.

"We need him alive," said the Red Bee. "Remember that, big guy."

"I remember," said Frankenstein. "Just be warned. I will not allow him to kill another innocent life."

"Understood," said the Red Bee. "Let's get moving."

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Next Issue: 'Shades of Gray' Part 2, as Frankenstein faces Jason, Batman & Green Arrow face Frankenstein, and we see the first meeting between the Red Bee and the Dark Knight! Plus: Where is Tim Drake? The answers revealed in Checkmate #6!