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“Get the hell away from him.”

Jason Todd, aka Blackhawk, assumed a fighting stance. Seconds earlier he had crashed through the window to this office in the Bialyan Embassy in Stockholm. On the floor before him was the unconscious form of the Batman. Standing across from them both was a masked man called the Red Bee.

“I'm going to give you one chance,” said the Red Bee. “Gather Batman and leave now.”

“That's not going to happen,” said Blackhawk. “You and your psycho buddies are going down.”

“You have no idea what is really going on here,” said the Red Bee.

Blackhawk spun a kick at Red Bee's head. The Bee snagged Blackhawk's ankle and twisted him around, sending him spinning to the floor.

“You're badly hurt. Despite your tough exterior, you're not going to be able to last much longer, Jason.” The Bee waited to see Blackhawk respond.

“Who the hell are you?” asked Blackhawk.

“Believe it or not,” said the Red Bee, “A friend.”

He kicked down on Blackhawk's head, knocking him unconscious.

 

DC Infinity Presents

#9

“Shades of Gray – Part 5 of 6”

By Mike Hintze

 

Of all the positions he had ever thought he would be in, super-hero do-gooder had certainly not been one of them.

Paul Booker, aka Major Disaster, looked around himself, expecting company at any moment. A private jet was idling behind him on the tarmac at Stockholm-Arlanda Aiport. The pilot, a former Blackhawk Express flier, was considered trustworthy by Vera Black, although Booker had his misgivings about the man. He looked around again, eager to get out of Stockholm.

“I wish that woman would hurry up,” said Brian Markov, aka Geo-Force. “I am putting my nation on the line by agreeing to this.”

“Miss me?” said Vera Black, aka Sister Superior, from above as she landed beside Booker.

“I just want to get back in the air,” said Booker. “It's taken all of my concentration to keep events from working out for that Blackhawk dude. I've got one helluva migraine.”

“We can leave now,” said Vera. “I have the location of Zanetti. Let's go.”

“Finally,” said Booker. “Let's get this bird in the air.”

Geo-Force walked behind Vera as they boarded the plane. “Where is Zanetti, Vera?”

“Oolong Island,” said Vera. “I hope you're feeling your oats, Brion. We're going to need them if we plan on taking down SHADE and the 52.”

“If what you've shown me so far is true, then they had better start praying,” said Brion.

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

Green Arrow shook his head as consciousness returned to him. Last he remembered, he and Duo, the current bearer of the Aztek armor and champion of the Q Society, had encountered...someone. Green Arrow and Duo had come to Stockholm with Batman to investigate and extract Blackhawk and Catwoman from a disastrous mission. They had been on the hunt for illegal genetic weapons dealing, but something had gone very wrong. Green Arrow and Duo had found the meeting location between Blackhawk, Catwoman and a Bialyan man named Glaublich. Blackhawk and Catwoman had obtained their information and went on to the Bialyan embassy, however something went awry. The embassy was now a disaster area and Glaublich was nowhere to be found. If he could just remember who the hell had gotten the drop on them....

Duo woke up and shook her head.

“You alright, babe?” asked Green Arrow.

“Yes,” said Duo, “And I'm not your babe.”

“Yep, you're alright,” said Green Arrow. “What the hell happened to us?”

“I don't know,” said Duo, “I--” She stopped and stared into space for several seconds. “Oliver, who is Vera Black?”

“That's an odd question to ask now,” said Green Arrow. “Vera is an old friend. Why?”

“My armor systems have downloaded footage of the last twenty minutes into my memory,” said Duo. “We were speaking to someone named Vera Black...who incapacitated us. Commencing playback.”

“Green Arrow and Aztek are off the board...No, the memory charge will make them forget our meeting...No, I vaporized Glaublich. SHADE will take care of Todd and Catwoman. These two don't need to die. You know, Booker, that we will get this done without killing our friends. Too many have died already...They don't know we're here...And they won't until it's too late. I trust you made it out of the embassy intact?....time to move, then. We need to get Zanetti out of Bialyan hands...I'm on my way.”

“Holy shit,” said Green Arrow. “This mess is a whole lot more clusterfucked than we thought.” He turned to Duo. “We need to get to the Bialyan embassy right now.”

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

The Red Bee floated up onto the adjoining rooftop from the Bialyan embassy, riding on electromagnetic fields generated by his swarm of cybernetic 'bees'. As landed he was met by another man wearing a stylized mask that resembled a goalie helmet. He wore body armor and was strapped with weapons. His chest had the logo of a laughing cartoon dog.

“Why are you here?” asked Red Bee. “I have the situation under control.”

“The bosses don't think so,” said Wild Dog. “I'm here to clean up the collateral damage.”

“Namely?” asked Red Bee.

“Batman and Blackhawk,” said Wild Dog. “You took them down, but they're still alive.”

“I deployed neural chaff when I left,” said Red Bee. “They won't be a problem. We'll be long gone when they come to, and by then they'll be in the hands of the Bialyan authorities. Leave it at that.”

“Father Time's orders,” said Wild Dog. “Leave them now and they'll be a threat later. They have Checkmate behind them.”

“That's nothing new,” said Red Bee. “They don't need to die.”

“I have my orders,” said Wild Dog. “So do you, Agent 52.”

“Dammit,” said Red Bee. “You're right. I'm heading for extraction.”

“Give me five minutes,” said Wild Dog, “And I'll meet you there.” Wild Dog leaped from the rooftop and fired a grapnel, rapelling over to the Bialyan Embassy.

Red Bee looked past Wild Dog and smiled. He had been about to take down a fellow SHADE agent, until his bee swarm had detcted two individuals approaching the embassy. Green Arrow and Aztek. Wild Dog was in for a surprise, not that he particularly cared about the soldier. He was one of the more ruthless agents in the 52...but Red Bee, the former hero called Blue Beetle, knew that Wild Dog would have his hands more than full with Green Arrow and Aztek.

He headed away towards his extraction point, confident that Wild Dog wouldn't be making it anytime soon.

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

Duo and Green Arrow burst through into the Bialyan ambassador's second floor office ready for anything. Batman and Blackhawk were lying on the floor, unconscious. A glittering substance was shimmering in the air. Duo reached out and held Green Arrow back.

“Neural chaff,” said Duo. “Stay back and I'll deal with it.” She faced the direction of the chaff and activated the four dimensiona; mirro on her chest. Energy coruscated out and rendered the chaff inert. “Okay, all clear,” said Duo.

Green Arrow walked up to Batman when his shoulder exploded with pain. He hit the floor as gunfire peppered the office. Duo was quick to erect a forecefield over the group but the gunfire continued. Finally it stopped. Seconds later, a cylinder landed in the room from outside.

“I hope that forcefield is a good one,” said Green Arrow through gritted teeth.

Everything went white.

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

The explosion was seen for miles around Stockholm. The Bialyan Embassy was levelled to the ground, neighbouring buildings were also damaged. The destruction was more or less contained to the Bialyan grounds, however. After all, SHADE didn't want to start more international trouble than they needed to.

Dr. Niles Caulder watched the news coverage in his office on Oolong Island, his face grim. He hasd hoped to avoid collateral damage in this operation, but as soon as Father Time assigned Wild Dog into the mix, it had only been a matter of time. Red Bee had reported in at the rendezvous point, but there was still no word from Wild Dog himself. Caulder had met Batman before...he knew that it was disaster to underestimate that man in anything.

SHADE was involved with the Bialyan government in exchanging research on metahuman genetics. Caulder had agreed the ends justified the means, but he was beginning to have grave misgivings regarding the overriding leadership of Father Time. The mysterious head of SHADE was involved in layers upon layers of intrigues and Caulder was beginning to think that it might be time to make an endplay of his own.

He reached down on his wheelchair and triggered a hidden switch. An electromagnetic signal was emitted that effectively cloaked Caulder's office from outside eavesdroppers. He wouldn't be able to use it for long without drawing attention, but he only needed a few moments.

“Cliff,” said Caulder. “It's time.”

“Roger that,” said Cliff Steele aka Robotman over the commlink. “See you in a few hours.”

“Affirmativc,” said Caulder as he cut off the communication. He then reached down and switched the cloaker off. The clock had begun ticking. Twenty four hours from now SHADE woould be a much different organization.

It would be Caulder's to control, not Father Time's.

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

The explosion rocked the street, levelling the Embassy building. Wild Dog couldn't help but smile. He had almost went in and finished off Batman and Blackhawk personally, but he had seen Green Arrow and Aztek approaching, or more accurately, Aztek's unique energy signature. Realizing he would have been hard pressed to handle someone of Aztek's abilities (Green Arrow would have been a non-issue), he decided to go for scorched earth. The Khundian transmatter grenade worked like a charm. Bialya might be pissed about losing their embassy, but what they wewre getting inreturn would more than make up for it.

He turned to head off to the rendezvous point when he was kicked squarely in the testicles. Even despite the cup he wore, he went down like a sack of potatoes. The hits never stopped as he was knocked around senseless. His attacker knew the proper pressure points required to bring a man down, even a moderately armored one like himself. His helmet was knocked off and he had a split second to see his attacker before everything went black.

Catwoman stood over the fallen Wild Dog, the irony of the image not lost on her. Her body wracked with pain from the attentions she received from soldiers who were employed by something called Shade, she had found her way back to the Embassy in time to see it go up in flames. This Dog idiot had been standing on the roof ledge watching his handiwork. Not sure if Jason was still inside or not, she had decided to take this man down. He was obviously the man whoi had fired that grenade shot she had seen fire over the street. She had no idea how many innocent people had died in the conflagration.

“Selina,” came a familiar voice from behind her. She turned to see Batman, Blackhawk, Green Arrow and Aztek floating down in a dimly shimmering sphere generated by Aztek's armor. Blackhawk and Batman looked battered, Blackhawk by far the worse for wear. Batman was supporting his weight. Green Arrow's shoulder was wounded and bleeding. Aztek was the only one who looked unharmed.

“Here to clean up our mess?” asked Selina.

“You know that's not it,” said Batman. He shifted Jason's weight over to Aztek and walked up to Selina. “Are you all right? We need to get you to medical attention.”

“I'm fine, I--” The world swirled around her as she fell forward into Batman's arms.

“Everyone to the jet,” said Batman. He motioned down to Wild Dog. “Bring him.”

“I've gotta say,” said Green Arrow, “I really hate this city.”

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

The Bat-Jet was out of Swedish airspace in several minutes, cloaked from all detection as it made its way to the Atlantic Ocean and back to The Pawn , Checkmate's mobile floating headquarters.

Setting the plane on autopilot, Batman headed to the passenger compartment. Duo was tending to Green Arrow's shoulder wound. It wasn't as serious as it had initially looked, but it would be a while before he pulled a bowstring. Jason had removed his mask and was tending to Selina's wounds as she was laid out on a bed that folded out from the hull.

“She has signs of internal bleeding,” said Jason, “But I think I have her stablized for now. We need to get here to a hospital ASAP.”

“We'll be at The Pawn in twenty minutes,” said Batman. “I have Alfred and the medical staff on standby.”

Jason leaned back in his seat, clutching his side. He had applied bandages himself. “Let me have a look at that,” said Batman.

“We were set up, Bruce,” said Jason. “We were screwed from the moment we set foot in Sweden. These psychos were ready for us....they at least knew that I was coming. I don't know about Selina.”

“There's more,” said Green Arrow. “Duo and I were attacked....by Vera Black.”

Batman looked up in surprise. “I thought she died in Gateway City.”

“Me, too,” said Oliver, “But there's more...Paul Booker is with her.”

“Major Disaster,” said Batman. “There's more here than we firsty thought...much more.”

“So what do we do now, sir?” asked Duo.

“We take this fight directly to the top,” said Batman, “But first, I need Jason to tell us what happened.”

Everyone's attention was directed to Jason. He looked back and took a deep breath. “All right,” said Jason, “From the top....”

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

Next Issue: We finally learn exactly what happened in Stockholm....and Checkmate makes their move against SHADE, all in the conclusion of 'Shades of Gray'!