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Considering the events of the past few hours, he was surprised that it was so quiet.

Batman kept to the shadows near the rooftop of the atrium of the Biaylan embassy. He had located several security features that were easily disabled, but he still held back, cautious. There was more going on with this mission than was readily visible. He had his suspicions, but in the end they were only that until proven. He just hoped that Jason and Selina were all right. The clock was ticking.

Activating his night-sights, Batman moved from the shadowed ceiling to a lower balcony. The balcony wound the circumference of the foyer, with several doors leading off into the deeper recesses of the building. He made his way to a door a dozen feet away, and after several seconds, had picked his way inside.

According to the magnetic resonance scan his aircraft had completed of the building, this was one of the main offices. Knowing Bialyan mindsets as well as he did, Batman correctly assumed the largest was the workplace of the Bialyan Ambassador to Sweden. A quick review of the pictures adorning the walls confirmed this. The man smiled with his wife and children, the typical international family. Batman had his doubts as to how happy the ambassador would be after he met him.

Batman went to the desk, located in the centre of the vast office. A computer terminal was recessed on the surface. Batman affixed a circular device near the terminal and activated it. In seconds, the computer terminal booted up and logged on automatically.

Batman began scanning document after document as the hard drive was copied to the hacker device. He saw nothing that alarmed him..except one. He cued the folder up on the desktop and opened it.

The file was encrypted. It took a few seconds, but eventually the security protocols were breached and the file opened. It took Batman no more than a second to see something that worried him and would require his immediate attention. One name.

Tim Zanetti.

He just hoped that Green Arrow and Aztek were able to find a lead to Jason and Selina..it pained him, but his priorities had very suddenly changed, and not for the better.

 

DC Infinity Proudly Presents

#7

'Shades of Gray' - Part 3 of 6

By Mike Hintze

 

"You know, Duo, that outfit is a good look for you."

Green Arrow smiled at his current partner, the newest incarnation of the superhero Aztek. Despite the odds against them and Batman's single minded focus in regards to his son, Green Arrow always could find time to flirt with the ladies.

"I think it's fair to tell you," said Duo, "That I was warned about you."

"Warned?" replied Green Arrow in mock surprise, "What about? A complement's a complement where I come from."

"Where you come from, sir," said Duo, "there are a lot of broken hearts from what I was told."

"Don't put too much into what Bats says," said Green Arrow, "The guy is too stiff backed to know when something good is right in front of him. Now, me on the other hand.."

"We're here," said Duo.

Green Arrow quickly got serious. He and Aztek had been sent by Batman to investigate the location of a mysterious informant that was meeting with Jason Todd and Selina Kyle, aka Blackhawk and Catwoman. The informant was said to have information on illegal genetic weapons deals between Bialya and a mysterious other party. Last Batman had known, Blackhawk and Catwoman were meeting the informant and reporting back to himself. Instead, something had made them head for the Bialyan embassy, where a metahuman battle had occurred. Reports said an innocent police officer had been killed by someone fitting Blackhawk's description. While Batman investigated the embassy, Green Arrow and Aztek were checking in on the last known location of the informant.

Aztek initiated a cloaking field and picked up Green Arrow, carrying him silently across the street to the posh hotel before them. As they approached the 18 th floor, Green Arrow reached into his belt for a glass cutter to gain entry into the dark room.

"Don't bother," said Aztek. "Just take a deep breath and close your eyes."

Green Arrow shivered as Aztek made them both intangible, phasing them through the hotel wall. An instant later, and Aztek let Green Arrow down on solid ground. "I've phased with J'onn before," he said, "But that was.freaky."

"You get used to it, sir," said Aztek. "It seems my initial scans were correct. This room is empty."

Green Arrow activated his own night sight in his domino mask, and slowly prowled. A living room was off to the side of the main bedroom they had entered through. Green Arrow stepped in, looked..and stopped in his tracks.

"My God," he said.

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The smell of the sewer was pungent, but far from the worst smelling environment he had ever been in. Over the last hundred plus years, he had been in and done things where few men ever dared to tread. Few men, however, had proved to be as wily as his current target.

Frankenstein sloshed through the refuse, his keen eyes scanning the brick and metal walls of the sewer system of Stockholm. The radiation isotope tracker was in passive mode now, not picking up any traces of the tag he had hit his target with. Jason Todd, now calling himself Blackhawk, had been selected by a S.H.A.D.E. agent infiltrating Checkmate as a top priority for some kind of intelligence he had. Learning he was assigned to a mission in Stockholm, Frankenstein and the Red Bee had intercepted him and Catwoman. The fight had taken a wrong turn, however, when a third party made itself known. Circumstances changed, and the Bialyan embassy ended up experiencing the fallout of the fight. Blackhawk escaped, but not before Catwoman was taken hostage. Frankenstein continued the chase, leading now to the sewer system he was knee deep in.

He held a hand cannon in his left, capable of demolishing a tank. His other hand held a long broadsword, its blade gleaming even in the low light. His eyes were adjusted to the dimness. The hunt was on. S.H.A.D.E. wanted this man, and he would get him for them. What they did with him after was none of his concern.

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Tim Zanetti was a military officer who had been caught in an extradimensional experiment decades ago. His body was in a coma during that time, changing into something.different. Finally, he awoke with amazing powers that could bend reality and destroy organic tissue. Zanetti had to wear a special suit that protected others from his destructive touch, and he was used with the military to combat an incursion from the dimension the original experiment had accessed. The invaders had been pushed back in the end, but then the Crisis came. Zanetti had been involved in combating the supervillains that attacked Metropolis and seemed to be destroyed in an explosion.

Now, Batman was reading information indicating Zanetti was indeed alive, and under the custody of the Bialyan Government. Batman knew that Bialya was seeking black market genetic weapons of mass destruction, but Zanetti was all that and more. Batman and the Justice League had met Zanetti. They had fought against and with him. Batman knew of the power Zanetti had, and the potential of an extradimensional genetic code in the wrong hands. He continued toggling through the files from the embassy's database, seeking out a location for Zanetti.

"Your boy leaves quite the path of destruction."

Batman whirled to see someone standing in the shadows. The man took two steps into the dim light.

"I don't know you," said Batman, putting the downloader device back in his utility belt. "If you're a Bialyan agent, you can tell your masters I'm coming for them."

"I don't work for Bialya," said the man. "You can call me the Red Bee, Batman."

Batman walked away from the desk, always facing his new visitor. He saw small objects swirling around the Red Bee, like a cloud of flies.or bees. His visor scanned the objects, showing that the insects were cybernetic ones, flying in a symmetrical pattern around the Red Bee. The pattern reminded Batman of Mr. Terrific's T-Spheres and their defensive manoeuvres.

"You know what happened here tonight," said Batman.

"I have an idea," said the Red Bee. "Although I didn't expect to see you here.at least, not in costume."

Batman paused. The last comment had taken him by surprise. Who did this man work for? What did he know about Checkmate? Questions to be answered after he was taken down.

"I'm full of surprises," said Batman as he flung his hand out. Flashes of light and smoke erupted around the Red Bee. An instant later, Batman was leaping across the room, his boot heel leading as he connected with where the Red Bee was.

His foot hit the wall. The Red Bee wasn't there anymore. Batman looked around the room, his night sights activated. The man was gone. He was as good at disappearing as Batman himself was. He heard nothing. The room was silent.

An impact hit his ribs, head and thigh in rapid succession. Stunned, Batman swung out, his senses and technology telling him no one was there, his body telling him otherwise. The hits kept coming, his retaliations hitting nowhere.

Finally, he hit a switch on his utility belt. An electrical discharge arced off his body, illuminating the room. Off to his left, he saw the outline of a man, his image shifting between transparent and photonegative. Whatever cloaking technology he had been using, it had been disabled, at least for the moment. Batman got back to his feet. Now at least he could see his quarry.

"Nicely done," said the Red Bee. "I see I'll have to rethink my electromagnetic shielding." The swarm of bees flew up from the floor and assumed a static formation aimed at Batman. "Let's see how round two goes."

Batman brought out two batarangs in a fighting stance, their razor tips reflecting the light. "Yes," he said, "Let's."

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She ran down the hall, her nose crinkling at the dank odour of the place. Selina had escaped her imprisonment and torture, but not before taking a man's life. Bruce may have his rule of 'No Killing', but Selina was not quite as reticent about it. The mission to Stockholm had been botched from the start. What began as a meeting with a contact had ended with attackers from all sides, new players she had no clue of. She knew Bruce would never have sent her in knowing trouble was brewing like this. That meant his intelligence was off, there was someone else involved in this mess he wasn't aware of.

Selina came to the end of the hall, and checked by opening the door a crack. Two men were standing there. One turned as the door creaked.

"All finished with her?" asked the guard. His response was a steel door slamming into his face, breaking his nose. The other guard moved in with his gun, but Selina kicked it out of his hand and hit his chin three times in rapid succession. The man crumpled to the ground. She turned back to the first man and kicked him in the midsection, sending him tumbling over a railing to the floor below. That was when Selina realized she was outside. She had been inside a warehouse of some kind, but as to whether she was still in Stockholm, she didn't know. Her GPS had been removed, as had most of her equipment.

Still, Selina Kyle was not a helpless woman in any situation. She needed to get her bearings first. Then, it would be time to give back to these men that had attacked her.

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

Jason Todd watched as his pursuer crept along the sewer. He was close. Any closer and he would detect the radiation tag. He needed to move. He couldn't keep running.

Jason reached out and flung a grenade into the sewer. It hadn't made a splash and a second later, Frankenstein had drawn a bead on it with his sword. He batted it back to where it came and another instant later, it detonated. Brick and masonry collapsed around the two, Frankenstein barely escaping being crushed. The street above had caved in, several cars dropping down.

Frankenstein stepped out of the street crater, no longer caring about who saw him and his grotesque appearance. Blood ran down from his temple. His pursuit of this Blackhawk was finally wearing his patience to an end.

He looked back down into the crater for any sign of his target. That grenade had to have come from him and no other. He sheathed his sword and began lifting huge chunks of rubble, searching for a broken body. The shape Blackhawk had been in before, there was no way he was walking after he had deflected that blast at him.

Frankenstein jerked forward at an impact. He looked down and saw a piece of steel rebar sticking out from his abdomen. He turned and saw Blackhawk standing there, blood streaming down his face, but determination etched on it.

Frankenstein chuckled as he reached down and began to pull the rebar from out of his abdomen. He stepped towards Blackhawk and reached for his sword.

It wasn't there.

He looked back at Blackhawk, but it was too late. Jason swung the broadsword at Frankenstein, decapitating him.

The massive man's body collapsed to the ground. Jason dropped the sword and made his way back to an alley as people surrounded the chaos. He needed to get back to the Bialyan embassy.before this mission became totally beyond salvage.

He had given his word to Bruce he could do better.now he had to make good on it. He had to see that Selina was safe.

He just hoped he wasn't too late.

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Next Issue: Batman vs The Red Bee! Green Arrow and Duo encounter something totally unexpected.and just how did Jason Todd become Blackhawk? Allis revealed in Checkmate #8!