บท 39: Attack of the Flying Birb People part - 2/7

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He was well aware of the last time he had made an alliance with someone right before going into a fight, and all the consequences of it. Cadmus sincerely doubted Luthor was as stupid as them.

"You do," Cadmus replied.

Luthor did not slow his gait for even a moment, only acknowledging his words with a small nod of his head. "Dr. Hamilton, please evacuate all non-necessary personnel and begin level-five lockdown."

The scientist gave an affirmative response and walked deeper into the underground facility, while Cadmus, Luthor, and Mercy continued forward.

Once they had boarded the elevator, Luthor pressed his fingertip against the scanner which gave an affirmative chirp, and immediately they began to accelerate upwards.

The trip lasted but a handful of tense seconds before the doors opened and they stepped out into Luthor's office.

The entirety of the opposite wall was made of glass giving an impressive view of the city's skyline and allowing golden rays of sunlight to shine throughout the interior. A large TV screen was mounted to the near wall stretching its width.

Bookshelves were on display on either side along with plaques of past achievements and - was that the Mona Lisa?

Luthor moved towards the expansive desk that dominated the room, taking a seat while Mercy stood at his side, and typed out a rapid-fire staccato upon his keyboard.

"What are you doing?" Cadmus asked as he took a place beside one of the bookshelves, idly flipping through the volumes.

"An emergency meeting with some of our associates," Luthor replied a tinge of irritation in his response. "Do not worry, they won't see your face unless you want them to."

He then took a deep exhale, smoothed down the nonexistent ruffles in his suit, and pressed a button beneath his desk and the TV screen flicked to life.

Six figures were present each behind their own screen, a large man with numerous scars across his broad face wearing a marine corps unfirom was shouting animatedly with another man with pale blue skin and fish gills who had on some kind of strange scale-like helmet that concealed his upper face.

And they weren't even the most strange of the attendees.

A gorilla with a small pair of spectacles perched upon its broad nose, head crammed into a textbook.

Next, was a copper-skinned woman dressed in lavish silks and jewelry who idly studied her nails and sighed loudly.

Beside her on the other screen was another man dressed in dark robes, with a well-groomed beard and piercing green eyes, sitting in complete darkness, unlike the others who had a white fluorescent background.

But it was the last one that caught Cadmus completely by surprise. A diminutive teenager with sallow grey skin dressed in a black suit, his hair curled up into a pair of horns and a shit-eating grin across his face.

Klarion.

Luthor coughed once to no effect, and only had done it twice more did the two men quiet but not without a healthy amount of grumbling.

The gorilla perked its head up "Oh, dear Luthor," it said, the words tinged with a French accent. "it's so glad for you to join us finally. We were just beginning to ponder the awful notion that our new avian pest had gotten hold of you."

"Not yet, Humanite."

"Which we all appreciate," the woman sighed theatrically. "Vandal and Oren's verbal cockmeasuring was becoming tedious."

"It's Ocean Master to you, slattern." the fish man huffed.

Cadmus wracked his brain. Oren. Ocean Master, Aqua Man's brother. And there was only one possibility for who Vandal could be.

"Your concern is appreciated, Queen Bee," Luthor said, his annoyance clear. "But we have far greater concerns at this moment. Our little avian problem as Ulta-Humanite succinctly put it."

"Before we get started," The witch-boy suddenly interrupted. "Is there anything you wish to tell us, Luthor?"

"Why are you even here, Klarion?" Vandal asked tiredly. "This an earthly affair."

The demon shrugged. "I go wherever chaos is," a forked tongue flicked out. "I can already taste it."

The assembled villains made various expressions of disgust. "But back to the topic," Klarion said in his reedy voice, crimson eyes boring through the screen. "I get the feeling you're hiding something. I want to know what."

Luthor's eyes flicked towards Cadmus.

Cadmus remained where he was, years of well-earned patience were all that prevented him from attempting to throttle the demon, the fact that he was on a computer screen be damned.

Luthor replied with a thin smirk. "You're seeing shadows, Klarion. Perhaps you need more time to readjust after being gone for so long." his words dripping with condescension. The demon's face curled into something horrifying before returning to that of a petulant teenager.

"Fine, I'll figure it out eventually. Isn't that right Teekl?" An orange tabby appeared in his lap, preening under its owner's affections.

Even the cat's back too?

"Back to the business at hand, then. What news do we have?"

"Just as we suspected, my friend." The gorilla replied. "Thanagarians in every capital city of importance, Washington, Moscow, Beijing, even my sweet Paris. Military infrastructure was rendered crippled. I suspect even the nuclear arsenals have been compromised."

There was clear admiration in its assessment.

"That would explain Vertigo's absence. But what of you Bee?"

The woman's full lips curled sensously, kohl-marked eyes fluttered. "Do not worry about me, Lex, I can more than take care of myself. Isn't that right?" She spoke to someone offscreen.

A moment later an armored man entered beside the queen, a pair of white wings connected to his back, and fell to his knees. A Thanagarian then. Cadmus had seen two of them before during his stay on the Watchtower. Hawkman and Hawkwoman, intergalactic peace officers. He wondered where they were now.

The man bowed reverently at her feet. "There are none that may compare, Your Majesty." The man's voice was that of a zealot's. Bee's smile widened and she dismissed the man with a flick.

Mind control? It was likely auditory based on the undertones that seeped through even a microphone with a siren-like quality.

"Naturally, and that also means Waller is likely occupied with her schemes. Pity. What do we know of them, their designs?"

"They seem to be searching for something." The man in the darkness spoke softly. "or perhaps someone. Patrols have been reported everywhere, but My shadows say they are combing Jump City most suspiciously, specifically around one of its universities. Hudson, they say."

A cold weight settled in Cadmus' stomach.

"And in all of this, where is our lauded Justice League?"

It was Klarion who replied. "Gone, brought down by treachery from within," he said with a manic giddiness that permeated each syllable. "Oh if only I could have been there to watch and see as those pesky little heroes broke and were thrown aside like old toys! If only!"

"You can never trust an alien," Ultra-Humanite tutted. Luthor nodded in agreement.

Lex looked like a kid who discovered Christmas came early. "How poetic, do we know the identity of the traitor?"

"Traitors," Queen Bee corrected. "the most honorable heroes, Shayera Hol and Karter Hol. Hawkwoman and Hawkman, who in fact were not some do-gooder peacekeepers who by chance came upon earth. No, they were sent by their superiors as scouts for an invasion. A role they played most excellently."

"I see you've put your thrall to good use." Vandal Savage spoke. "What else can the man enlighten us about their motives?"

Queen Bee snapped her fingers and the enthralled Thanagarian soldier reappeared. "Be a dear and answer their questions."

The Thanagarian nodded robotically and turned to stare at a point above the camera. "Thanagarian High Command had identified the planet Earth as a prime staging point for the invasion of the Gordanian homeworld approximately seven years ago when the conflict reached a stalemate. Scout-Sergeants Shayera and Karter Hol were dispatched to gain the trust of earth's inhabitants and report back any relevant information on the planet that would be of use in the case where the High Command deemed invasion a necessity in the war effort."

"And just how would this occupation serve the war effort?" Ocean Master asked with a sneer.

"Earth is approximately seven-tenths light years from the Gordanian Homeworld. A device was designed to establish a near-light speed highway to transport our forces directly there by taking advantage of a quantum folding property discovered by our scientists."

"And what would happen to earth, once you had left?"

"As a side-effect of the device's ignition, the earth's molten core would reach critical levels of instability and implode. The planet would no longer exist."

Rage roared to the forefront of Cadmus' thoughts, a heavy terrible presence that cloaked his shoulders. A rage that did not solely belong to him but rather permeated the very air around him, and brought soft whispers that promised only swift destruction to such upstarts.

"I see," Luthor leaned his chin on clasped hands. "If that was your plan, then what is the purpose behind the patrols in Jump City?"

Cadmus gave a thankful nod to the man.

"Recent information provided by the Sergeants Hol revealed the discovery of a device capable of near-perfect energy transfers. It was deemed by High Command that such an invention would be imperative to the greater war effort. Patrols were sent to secure the device and its creators. Martin Stein and Cadmus Othrys."

"Uhhh-h," Klarion groaned dramatically. "Not that brat again, you know I heard he didn't even kill a single Amazon getting off that island. Not even once eency weeny mutilation or amputation. He's so boring!"

Teekl meowed in agreement.

Luthor hid his amusement well. Bee laughed airly Ocean Master sneered and Savage's scarred face twisted into a small smile. Humanite did not look up from his book. The man in the shadows too did not make any comment.

Cadmus' eye twitched. The utter fucking gall. He brought ruin and destruction to Themiscyra and brought an entire civilization crashing to its knees in a single afternoon. He was not boring! He thought of Stein then. A target of an overwhelmingly powerful alien force. He felt fear for the man.

A sudden flit of a shadow on the edge of his vision broke him from his thoughts. He turned to his left, facing the window. In the distance a smell speck steadily approached, crossing high over the city's skyline. And then the speck became clearer, a column of flying armored figures, their approach hidden by sunlight.

Thanagarians.

Mercy turned to follow his line of sight and immediately turned to whisper something in Luthor's ears. Outwardly nothing changed in the man's demeanor. "It appears I have unexpected guests. Humanite we will have to reschedule our weekly tea to tomorrow."

The gorilla-man sighed despondently. "More's a pity. These Thanagarians shall pay for disrupting my dinner plans."

The glass windows shattered a moment later, casting kaleidoscopic rays of light throughout the room.

Ten Thanagarians landed a handful of steps from them, hard eyes peering out behind war helms. One of them stepped forward, an insignia on his breastplate of a soaring hawk. "I am Hro Talak, Guard-Captain of the Western Zone. You will come with us."

Luthor stood up from his chair. "Well I am flattered but-"

The Thanagarian brought his weapon, a mace of shimmering strange metal up near Luthor's neck. "Not you," he said harshly. He turned to Cadmus and pointed with his mace. "You."

Cadmus examined them. Each one was heavily armored and watched the room with instilled discipline. Great avian wings were visible upon their backs, easily more than ten feet in span when fully extended.

"Why would I go with you?"

"Your compliance will ensure Martin Stein does not come to undue harm."

The temperature in the room plunged. "Is that a threat?" he asked.

"We know what you are," Hro Talak snapped. "do not think we come unprepared."

Cadmus' eyes drifted to their weapons and the distant buzzing that rang in his ears as he looked upon them, like an itch he couldn't scratch.

Magical in nature. No, he flexed his powers like a muscle and found a resistance that had not been present before. More pressure, more resistance. Anti-magical. But they were foolish enough to tip their hand.

He stood up from the wall, and rose to his full height, at eye-level with the towering captain. "You have no idea what I am."

Luthor looked between the two of them with disinterest and discreetly pressed a button beneath his desk. "Ms. Graves, if you would please do the honors."

Mercy responded with a savage smile that did not belong at all on a secretary's face.

The ceiling tiles suddenly opened and twin multi-barreled guns dropped down on either side of the intruders. They began to rotate with a soft whirr.

The Thanagarians jumped into action with a battle cry.

A hail of bullets fell down upon the armored aliens. Their wings unfurled within a blink of an eye.

Cadmus clenched his jaw, straining against the muscle in his mind and it gave in. Three of the Thanagarians paused for just a second, their movements dulled long enough that they could not escape.

A rapid stacatto of dull pings and a grunt of pain followed as they fell to the ground, their wings torn to shreds. The one nearest to Mercy fell to the ground with a silent cry, his knee twisted the wrong way.

The secretary caught him before he could fall, grabbing hold of the base of his wings and throwing the man face-first into the nearest wall with a dull crunch as helm and skull and wall broke under the pressure.

Six left.

Hro Talak approached him, face twisted in hate and mace raised high. "We have only need of your mind, the body we can do without!"

He moved quickly, with deadly savageness, and had Cadmus been any normal opponent the mace would have buried itself in his chest before he could react.

But Hro Talak could not react to the sudden malaise that seized his movements that threw his body's momentum into flux and left him unbalanced. The mace missed its target by a hair's width and the Thanagarian knight stumbled forward, only to be grasped tightly by the throat.

He looked up and saw two brilliant golden orbs shining back at him, and then he was flying, and then falling.

Hro Talak gave a terrible cry of pain, grasping fruitlessly at the hole in his back where his left wing had once been. Cadmus threw the severed appendage away in disgust but kept the mace the knight had lost in hand.

In the corner of his eye, he saw another Thanagarian fall to bullets while one more found himself trapped in Mercy's grip.

Hro Talak stumbled up, gasping and limping. Cadmus heard footsteps behind him as the remaining three soldiers rushed to their captain's aid.

They circled him, one on each side. Cadmus' eyes narrowed. The mace hung loosely in his hand, a steady buzzing hum in the back of his mind. They attacked together as any trained group would do. They fell together as well.

Unseen threads lashed at their bodies holding them for an imperceptible moment, but enough to ensure their fate. Cadmus fell to a crouch on one knee and swung the mace. It caught the charging Thanagarian on his left in the thigh, rending armor and flesh like paper.

Before he had fallen, Cadmus pirouetted, the mace lashing out in a long clockwise arc, striking the one on his right full in the face, the great helm groaned and dented, and the face beneath reduced nothing but red pulp.

He stepped slightly to his right, tripped the one behind him, and reached out for open flesh. He pulled and within his fist was something vital.

Hro Talak did not mourn his comrades. He took the opportunity of their deaths to lunge forward, arms wide in an attempt to wrestle him into submission. His own mace came thundering down. The knight fell.

His hand twitched once, a whispered lost name formed on his lips, and he moved no more.

Cadmus looked down at the mace in his hand, the metal still gleaming with an unnatural intensity, like light itself emitted from its surface. A curious thing, more curious its effects on his powers. It would be good to keep it if only to study later on.

A single gunshot rang out behind and he turned just as the last Thanagarian tumbled down, clutching at the hole in his stomach. Luthor placed the gun down on his table and wiped the sweat from his brow. "It's not fatal, at least in the short term. He'll live long enough to give us the information we need. Mercy, if you would."

The secretary-who-was-anything-but nodded and tossed the incapacitated alien over the shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He took in her blood-speckled features, none of which were her own, how her eyes were still crazed and blown wide, and how she walked past, a natural alluring sway like a sated predator.

An animal instinctual part of him stirred at the sight. It was a terrible challenge to stamp it down.

Luthor looked around the now-destroyed room with distaste and his dust-stained suit. "The dry cleaning will be outrageous for this," he muttered and turned to Cadmus. "You've proven yourself very capable for a simple scientist."

He caught the hidden question in the man's words. "And you as well, for a businessman."

"Indeed, you do not rise high in the world without having a plethora of useful skills. Now I must make plans to secure my holdings. These Thanagarians will likely retaliate with force, as any new occupying force will do as a lesson to those who would resist. You are more than welcome to join me."

Cadmus' thoughts turned to the old professor. A debt was owed to him. One he could not do his but his utmost to repay. "I have a business to take care of."

Cadmus stepped out into the hallway and ensured there was none present to watch. He inhaled deeply. Centered himself in the moment and place. Then, he reached out, not with a hand, grasping and searching, but with his entire being, an hourglass of sand turned upside down pouring out onto a fabric that enclosed all things. He searched out the place he had been once before, engraved with the memory of the past, and flashing with visions of the present and future. A man shrouded in fire fighting in a sky filled with shadows.

He exhaled, willing that which was permanent to become ephermal and weightlessness overtook him. Light shined brightly beneath his eyelids, and with a thundering rush, the world shifted around him. Cadmus opened his eyes.

He was not at Hudson. It was a bar, the interior dark and illuminated by faint yellow lights that hung from the ceiling. A bright neon sign in a language he did not know flickered above the drinks counter. Sitting alone at the counter was a man dressed in long purple robes, his face turned away, attention transfixed upon the goblet he held aloft in the palm of his hand.

"Please, come and join me." The man said, his voice smooth and quiet.

Cadmus felt deep in his bones that it would be a great mistake to reject the man's offer.

A stool beside the stranger scooted out of its own accord, and Cadmus sat silently, examining the man across from him. The robes were richly embroidered with symbols he could not place and inlaid with gold. Long thin fingers grasped the goblet in hand. It rotated and Cadmus found himself staring into two pitless eye sockets and the grinning visage of a skull.

The man placed the goblet down and turned giving Cadmus his first look at the man's face. "Apologies, I act the part of a rude host. Would you care for something to drink?" Twin pools of purple stared out, depthless and ever-shifting, threatening to drown one if they dared to peer too far within.

"Water would be fine."

His thin nose wrinkled in distaste. "Perhaps something more worthy of your palette." He clapped his hands and a golden goblet enlaid with jewels appeared in front of Cadmus, filled halfway with pure golden liquid.

"You have never tasted the Nectar?" the stranger asked, an eyebrow raised in question.

"The Nectar of the Gods?" Cadmus asked, not removing his gaze from the entrancing sight.

"The very same."

Cadmus did not move to drink, he turned to the man and fought back the urge to flinch. His visage was innocuous, aged but not old, with a salt and pepper beard kept well-groomed. And yet, the eyes, yes, the eyes declared that all else of the man was a lie.

This was not a man. This was something else.

"Who are you?" Cadmus asked.

"Greatest apologies. I rarely have the opportunity to entertain guests. You may call me Mordru, and I have been most excited to meet you, Cadmus Othrys."