章 46: The First Step Upon A Golden Path part - 2
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Frost blinked and gave him a questioning look that dangerously bordered on concern. "You look like shit."
"Didn't sleep much," Cadmus muttered in reply, wincing at the sudden spike of pain in his temple. What was wrong with him?
Lex, by contrast, looked as though he had slept on a nice bed of crushed children's dreams and looked annoyingly refreshed. He plucked a glass of orange juice from a passing stewardess and gave it a thoughtful sip, musing over the taste and wheedling at Cadmus's black mood.
"Mister Othrys," he said as though just realizing Cadmus was present. "I assume your accommodation was sufficient."
"Just peachy," Cadmus replied, wishing that he had lost his sense of hearing if only for a moment of peace.
Luthor seemed even more pleased by the sour response. "Glad to hear it, oh, and it looks like our transport is here. Shall we?"
They were greeted on the tarmac by a score of sufficiently mean-looking and armored individuals dressed in military fatigues, surrounding a pair of open-roofed jeeps.
"Senores," one of the men stepped forward, drooping mustachios and cap marking as someone of rank. "welcome to Santa Prisca. Our employer awaits you at the villa."
Following Lex's lead of unruffled disinterest, Cadmus took a seat in the rear vehicle along with Frost, while he and Mercy went to the one ahead.
"Seatbelts, uh, if you'd like...sir?" The driver swiftly dropped his gaze when Cadmus glared back at him through the rearview.
Honestly, seatbelts.
Their path took them straight into the island's dense jungle, following barely marked dirt roads contorted into a maze, and barely dodging fallen trunks and all other sorts of obstacles one would never mind in the civilized world.
They took a sudden turn and Cadmus caught sight of a large villa built into the hillside, all white buildings glimmering in the sunlight, surrounded by trimmed landscape and cobbled pathways.
Another host of armed guards was there to meet them as they pulled to a stop at the front of the mansion and were quickly ushered through a pair of gaudy towering doors inside.
The villa's interior was all pristine marble and colored glass, complete with gurgling fountains decorated with cherubs, and a view of the ocean that no doubt was only more beautiful at sunset.
A massive beast of a man a full head taller than Cadmus stepped out from gods knows where. His face was concealed behind a black and white luchador's mask with red eyes and wore military cargo pants along a sleeveless top that did nothing to hide his hulking form.
"You must be Bane." Cadmus quipped. "pleasure."
"The pleasure is all mine, Senor Othrys," the giant answered with a shocking eloquence, each word carefully measured out almost like an aristocrat. "I am honored to have such a guest grace Santa Prisca. Luthor, we have been waiting for your arrival most expectantly. And who is? Frost? I haven't seen you in so long!"
Frost batted away his embrace. "Nice to see you again too, Bane."
The giant gave a rumbling amused chuckle. "Ah, how I have missed that biting tongue of yours, Caitlin. But we aren't here to commiserate on old memories, are we? No, this is a day for new friendships and new alliances. Come along, the other guests are already seated in the parlor. We have salmon for the appetizer."
Bane spoke like he was hosting a small dinner party rather than part of an international deep state, but then again, perhaps one had to act with a certain levity, or life would be dreadfully boring.
"You are new to the island, so forgive me, but I tell this to all my guests. Santa Prisca is my piece of paradise," Bane said with a smile. "and that makes me god here. Keep the peace, for everyone's benefit, yes?"
Cadmus liked this Bane, he decided. "Message received."
Bane led them farther into the seemingly never-ending villa, past dozens of rooms and a full-size soccer field and shooting range, to the far end of the sprawling complex, where it opened up into a wide terrace dominated by a wide circular table.
A dozen people sat around it, murmuring amongst one another. Cadmus's eyes roamed over the strange group, recognizing a few from when he had seen them on the screen in Luthor's office what felt like years ago.
It was the one at the head of table, if there were a head to a circle, was the first to notice them. A giant of man who dwarved the delicate seat, broad-faced, dressed in a Marines uniform, and a long jagged scar stretching from temple to chin.
"Luthor," he stood from his chair and immediately the conversation died and all eyes flicked to onto them. "we've been expecting you," his eyes swiveled to Cadmus. "And you've brought your guest. Please take a seat, Mister Othrys."
He gestured to an open chair between a bald black man dressed in a scuba diver's suit and a pale man wearing some kind of robes made from fish scales with a petulant scowl across his face.
"What about my plus one?" Cadmus asked.
Vandal blinked and tapped his chin. "I believe we have a...sidekicks table, Bane?"
The other man nodded in agreement, unmindful of Frost's outraged expression. "I'll have one of the waiters escort you, do not fear, Caitilin, they are fine company."
Cadmus was more afraid for their health, an angry Frost was not something he'd wished for anyone to deal with.
Caitlin was swiftly and gently escorted away, giving Cadmus a pleading look. Help me! It said loudly.
Cadmus shrugged and took his seat. It wasn't his problem, after all. His neighbors paid him the perfunctory looks of calculated suspicion which Cadmus pointedly met as was expected of him.
Unfortunately for them, he'd never lost a staring contest in his life, and he allowed himself a satisfied smirk when they inevitably broke their gazes with small scoffs to lessen their bruised egos.
Vandal clinked his glass, drawing the group's attention. "Now that we've all gathered, I would first like to thank you for all taking a break from your...busy schedules to be here. As you may notice we have a new guest here today, Mister Cadmus Othrys." The hidden sneaking glances were abandoned for stares as all eyes fell upon him.
"Some of you may be familiar with his works on Tachyons and Thermodynamics, very interesting research if I must say, and in the opinion of our dear Luthor, of great value to our organization and its goals. Does anyone have an objection to Mister Othrys' presence?"
His tone made it clear that any objection would not be accepted kindly, and so none spoke up.
"Good," he smiled thinly. "Then let us get to the pressing business at hand. World domination."
Vandal snapped his fingers and a nondescript man dressed in a three-piece suit began passing wire-bound folders to each person at the table. Cadmus accepted him with a raised brow.
"These dossiers contain status updates on all of our ongoing initiatives, as well as future goals." droned Savage as though this were a simple business meeting.
But these were no simple initiatives. On top of the first page were labeled 'OLIVE BRANCH INITIATIVE' in bold, what followed was anything but.
Fomenting border tensions in Rhelasia. Sponsoring mercenary groups in the Quraci civil war on every side. Smuggling chemical and biological weapons onto Corto Maltesia. Assassinations of opposition figures across former Eastern bloc nations. Funding to choice provocateurs across the Western world - including one Gilbert Godfrey, and even anti-meta human agitation in Markovia. To what end Cadmus had no idea.
The dozens of pages after were much the same. Enough war crimes to even make old Kissinger himself blush in embarrassment.
It seemed this little dinner group Cadmus found himself in had its fingers in many different pies, and were not the kind who enjoyed sharing with anyone.
"This past year has proven to be of great success to our organization," Vandal said a self-satisfied smile on his scarred visage. "And this year looks equally promising."
Cadmus flipped forward to a page titled 'NEXT STEPS'. Further fomenting chaos in unstable countries, slowly raising the international world to a tense boil. There was a little green tab with '46' scrawled on it.
A light round of applause was around the table, mostly for themselves.
"And we will officially begin the second phase of Olive Branch next month. Just in time for election season, right Luthor?"
The man in question nodded and raised his glass towards Savage. "I dare say we will be having this conversation in a far more august venue in a year's time, no offense inteded to our marvelous host, of course."
Cadmus pulled the tab and found a disconcertingly detailed election map of the United States, with targeted demographics, wedge issues, and potential opponents and running mates for a potential presidential nominee.
Perhaps he'd slightly underestimated this 'Light'. This was no simple group of villains intent on fomenting chaos for chaos' sake, no the opposite. There was a logic to it, one founded on exploiting the chaos of their own making to seize legitimate means of power.
He was almost impressed.
"Excellent news," a familiar man with a hawk-like nose, dressed in the robes of a dervish said softly. "Forgive my cynicism, Vandal, but I find the recent success we struck upon to be...suspect."
Ra's al Ghul. Slade's old boss. Maybe he would know where Deathstroke had disappeared off to.
The copper-skinned woman beside him with a golden tiara holding up her hair gave a royal scoff. "You are paranoid, dear Ra's. Fortune favors us and you see only the ghost's shadow?"
The man gave an apologetic smile which looked anything but sincere. "It was my job to look what lies in the shadows, my dear Bee. And after that unfortunate business in Bialya, I find fortune's sudden turn has piqued my interest."
Queen Bee winced. "What I find more concerning," the man dressed in fish scales next to Cadmus, "is the lack of anything on our plans beneath the sea. I still have a kingdom to reclaim from my mongrel half-brother."
Vandal adopted the look of a man long used to deal with misbehaving children. "All in due time, Orm. I believe there is something of interest for you in the near future. But returning to the current point, we are aligned on the next steps. Perhaps a good time to ask our newest guest his opinion?"
Cadmus took a moment to reply, giving the impression he was gathering his thoughts. In truth, it all seemed rather straightforward now that he knew the players. Bialyan expansion in the Middle East at expense of Quraci sovereignty, securing uranium and oil deposits. That would provide Bee with her powerful base to exert influence across the Middle East.
Luthor looked to be the pick to play peacemaker across the various conflicts he'd directly fomented, ingratiating himself with the public and setting up a chance to take the most powerful office in the world.
As for the rest, they'd be carving up parts of the world as their own fiefs to rule, one's rise leading to the other's rise, a falling chain of dominoes that culminated with control of all the levers of power, World Domination, with clean hands.
And Cadmus knew exactly what they expected him to ask. They expected him to demand his piece of the pie, scrape, and negotiate for his own dominion and power. Their ambitions were nothing compared to his, but it'd be useful to have these people on his side. For now.
"World domination is well and good," Cadmus paused. "but what happens after?"
Luthor smiled beneath his champagne glass, like Cadmus had just passed some unspoken test.
"Interesting," Vandal murmured, fixing Cadmus with a glare. "you don't want to know what you're getting out of this? That would be a natural thing to want to know."
The weak thing, he meant. A question that only short-sighted people would ask. There were some like that at this table, Cadmus expected, and they weren't meant to make it to the finish line.
"Oh, I'm sure I'll figure out something myself. Worst case, this is an excellent networking opportunity."
"A very good question," Vandal said. "I could say that we usher in a new of prosperity and order across the world, enrich ourselves with all the earth has to offer. Live like gods in all their decadence and glory. But then I'd be lying."
His eyes hardened. "We do what is only natural, we rule."
Cadmus poked at the salmon in front of him disinterestedly. "And what about those who want to watch the whole thing burn, the "end of the world" types? I expect they're only just one of the many people who wouldn't be happy with your plans."
"A useful tool is discarded only when it no longer offers any utility. Today, their type is of use in keeping our other enemies distracted. Tomorrow," he shrugged. "maybe they won't be."
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