Less Than Zero Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Bad Meets Evil

The Secret Six had a new mission. Though, this one wasn't necessarily on the books.

The Friendly Tek building in Houston, Texas was their target. Within its confines lay a piece of information deemed significant to their combined interests

Their combined interests. Not the interests of their 'benefactor'.

To that end, the plan was established that the infiltration specialists in Null and Rag Doll would gain entry with Scandal and search the grounds for what they needed. The others would hang back and provide support, just in case it was needed.

Of course, that all changed when Catman came across a particular French, militaristic, talking gorilla. One that had him abducted to be devoured by him, if certain stories were to be believed. From Catman's response to catching sight of him, there was reason to believe the rumors.

As far as Catman was concerned when it came to Monsieur Mallah, it was 'on sight', as the kids might say.

During a prolonged brawl through the building, Monsieur Mallah and Catman spilled out of the fourth story window of the building, the latter slashing violently at the former with his claws all the way down.

The rest of the Secret Six crowded around the window as they watched Catman hash out a deep-seated grudge.

"Well..." Deadshot drawled at the sight, "There goes the element of surprise."

Mallah thrashed wildly, trying to get his hands on Catman, who had been on him with a vengeance on sight, "Kill! Kill! Eat you! Rip your pink, hairless flesh!" He roared furiously until gravity ran its course, "Oof!"

Catman endured the fall, using Mallah as a shock cushion. He bounced off his body once they hit the ground and flipped to his feet. The moment Mallah started to stir, he dove straight at him to continue tearing into him.

From above, Null remarked on the fight, "Somebody should help him, don't you think?"

Not him. He wasn't really volunteering. He was entertained. In fact, he'd have been recording if it had been the time or the place for it. After all, it wasn't every day you saw a man fearlessly charge a gorilla with your own eyes.

Ragdoll climbed to the edge of the window before diving out, "Those who dare not, care not!"

Just as Mallah had managed to get ahold of Catman to stop his onslaught, the contortionist landed on Mallah's shoulders immediately taking to wrapping his head and neck up with his limbs, "What manner of-?"

"All due respect, Mallah," Rag Doll said as he tied the struggling gorilla up with his body, "But you really do have the most appalling personal odor. Like a hippo sty full of rotten fruit, only gamier and more meaningful."

Just as Mallah had managed to grab Rag Doll and pry him off, Catman took the opening to stab Mallah in the chest with a pair of blades, "RAAAGH! You hunt me!? You dare to hunt Monsieur Mall-ARGH!" He cried out as Catman twisted the knives.

As the fight raged down below, there was still a job to do for the rest of them.

"Okay, officially bored now," Null declared, marking an end to the spontaneous spectator sight, "Where's this database?"

Scandal gestured for the young metahuman to follow her, "Come on," She directed before addressing the others, "This little vendetta aside, if anyone tries to get in the way, remove them."

Deadshot waved her off, continuing to watch Catman go in on Monsieur Mallah, "Yeah-yeah. We all have our mission."

Cheshire smirked extending her hand to Deadshot as she leaned over the edge of the window for a better view, "Deadshot, give me one of your bullets. I've got something hideous you can dip it in," She said, her voice colored in a deviously mischievous tone.

Deadshot gave her an odd look, though his expression was concealed by his mask. He did as she asked though and watched curiously as Cheshire carefully dunked the round in a small container, pulling it back out, soaked in some powerful-smelling chemical.

Deadshot didn't ask what it was, as he wasn't sure he wanted to know, "Anything for your live-in meat, huh?" He remarked, loading the bullet and taking aim at the large, hairy target below, "Alright. The kid was right. This stopped being funny thirty seconds ago."

Below, Catman was giving it his best shot, but after the surprise of his attack wore off, he was still a man fighting a fully-grown gorilla with a genius intellect. He grabbed onto Catman with both hands, bellowing angrily in his face, teeth bared, "I'm imagining your mind, biped. It is fetid and insignificant, but it might well be delicious!"

*BANG!*

Deadshot's bullet hit Mallah directly in the back of the mouth. Blood spurted as Mallah gagged and tried to touch at the wound to soothe it in some way. He dropped to his knees and began to convulse due to whatever had been in Cheshire's poisonous concoction.

"Hey!" Deadshot called from the window, "We don't have time for this! Get back up here and help buy Scandal and the kid some time!"

Catman clawed his way back up, Rag Doll on his back, hitching a ride. Once he was inside, he took note of Deadshot shooting at approaching enemies from afar while Cheshire tried to thin their numbers up close and personal.

"You know, you might as well have aimed for the head," Catman said as he and Rag Doll joined in the fighting.

Deadshot stopped firing for a moment to shrug, "Maybe, but he's still gonna die," He gestured his head to the embattled female mercenary ahead of them, "Cheshire laced the bullet. I think she wanted to show off for you."

Likely able to hear them, Cheshire stopped and turned, winking back at Catman, who could only scowl in return, "Sure. I'll bet."

XxX

Null magnetically slammed a colorfully garbed villain headfirst through a ceiling light fixture, leaving their motionless body stuck there.

He and Scandal had found their way blocked by several costumed villains, but he didn't know who they were from sight, and they weren't very good at fighting directly.

Scandal sighed in annoyance as she shoved the blades of her gauntlet through the torso of her latest victim. the tips of the weapon poked out through their back in a graphic display of violence, "We only need one of you madmen alive, you know," She said, letting the body drop from her grasp to the floor with a thud, "Do we have to kill the rest of you?"

Null lazily let his powers show, allowing electricity to crackle around his body as a show of force, until he realized just who he and Scandal had cornered, "Wait. Tweedledee and Tweedledum?"

They were Gotham City criminals. Ones he had dealt with before.

True enough, the overweight fantasy cosplaying criminals were right there in front of him, skin ashen white at having seen Scandal so brutally dispatch one of their Society comrades. That was without considering that they were also facing the boy that had put them in traction, leading to their arrest a few months prior.

Null laughed, continuing to flex his electricity muscles, "It is you guys! How have you been? You know, since the last time I beat the shit out of you two!"

Every step he took toward them, they took back. To intimidate them further, he reached out and gestured with his fingers, pulling them forward a step for every step he took. It was a fantastic way to intimidate someone - showing that they couldn't even run from him. He also didn't need them inching their way toward any weapons.

This combined with the memories of what had happened the last time they'd met broke whatever will they had.

"Oh, I'd love to help," Tweedledum said, trying to sound useful, "I'm the cooperative one, you know."

Tweedledee could tell when he was being left out in the lurch and immediately protested, "No, he's a filthy liar! Shoot him now! Nobody doesn't like Tweedledee!"

Scandal, apparently, didn't like Tweedledee, or at least she resented his begging, as she headbutted him in the face. He fell to the ground, desperately clutching at his shattered nose. Scandal didn't bother sparing him a second glance as she marched straight to the mainframe behind him.

Even when Scandal gave Tweedledum her back without a care, he didn't dare attack her, not with Null less than five feet away, "I can't help you track The Society! They'll kill me!"

Scandal had no more time for the riffraff populating the building, "Calm yourself, aberration. We're not after The Society. We're hunting Mockingbirds this evening," She said, bringing up a security wall that needed to be bypassed, "This is it, Null. Are you certain you can break into this system?"

Null walked up and tazed Tweedledum in the head as he passed, rendering him unconscious, "Any security in any computer system is just code. It had to start somewhere, and it can always be reset."

"And you can do that?" Scandal asked, skepticism in her voice.

Null cracked his knuckles and placed his hands on the mainframe, "We had this conversation already. Consider this electric lock-picking. Just gotta feel for that sweet spot, you know?"

"No," Scandal deadpanned, "I don't even know how you're doing this, but I'll take your word for it."

Null hummed, continuing to converse as he split his attention between the computer and his compatriot, "I can feel electric currents and transmissions. It's the same way I know you have a girlfriend," He quickly froze up when he realized he'd been more forthcoming than he'd wanted, "Uh, was that supposed to be a secret?"

Much to his relief, Scandal didn't seem bothered by the fact that he knew something that could be construed as personal, "No. But who that person is, is a secret."

"Don't know about that," Null said, "You didn't exactly drop any names in your messages."

"Might I ask why you were reading my private messages?" Scandal asked, her voice finally lifting a bit in threat.

Null wasn't too concerned. She wouldn't kill him until he'd finished his job, and that was if he didn't have a suitable excuse, which he did, "The whole 'trying to find Mockingbird' thing, duh. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered."

Scandal raised an eyebrow in intrigue, "You're not even going to apologize?"

"Seeing as how neither of you sent any nudes that I stumbled across, no," Null said bluntly, taking stock of how Scandal shook her head at him, "Don't look at me like that. If anyone else at the mansion had their phone or computer on them, I'd have monitored them too."

Scandal didn't answer, simply giving him a chiding look, "..."

"You know you'd have done it if you had my powers," Null said.

"...I'm not going to say you're right."

"But you're not saying I'm wrong either," Null felt that he had proven his point. Just in time, as he felt the aforementioned 'sweet spot', "Aha! There we go!"

On the screen, the security window went away, leaving Scandal with access. She quickly got to work, while Null watched her back.

It wasn't very long before the rest of the Secret Six joined Null and Scandal by the computer, having dealt with the rest of their opposition for the time being.

Deadshot called out to the two of them, "How much time left on that program you made that keeps Mockingbird from watching us?"

"Transmitter chaff, Deadshot," Scandal specified, as far as the work she had done on said program, "Maybe five minutes, then our surveillance bracelets go live again."

Deadshot jerked his thumb back in the direction they had come from, "Then let's get a move on before The Society find a dead ape in the back lot. Do we have the file on Mockingbird?"

Scandal nodded, keeping her attention on the computer at her fingertips, "Yes, but it's all encoded. And there's an embedded destruct program. I'll have to override it manually."

"We can do that back at the mansion, can't we?" Null interjected, not wanting to push the time limit he had any further past what was necessary.

Time was of the essence. Deadshot could agree on that much, "Alright, Scandal, Let's take the data and go."

As the team began to move out of the building, Cheshire found her way near Catman. He had been keeping away from her since her sudden confession to him in the bedroom. To say it had been awkward for him would have been downplaying things.

Cheshire grinned, either ignoring or utterly relishing in Catman's discomfort with her, "Seems to enjoy giving orders, our Mister Deadshot."

Catman avoided contact with her as though she were radioactive, "Right now, he's the only one on this team I trust."

His words were pointed and aimed at her in particular. Cheshire, however, let the remark slide off her, like water off of a duck's back.

"I could tell you something that might change that..." She teased. Catman didn't bite, however, "...But I won't, I suppose."

XxX

(Gotham City – The Hill – Society Headquarters)

The problem with trying to amass all the world's supervillains into one conglomeration was that there were more than just the average common criminals to deal with. Beyond the common riffraff, there were those that Lex Luthor would consider equals that he also had to find a way to get on his side – masterminds, if you will.

The inner circle of The Secret Society of Supervillains was proof that he could do just that. It wasn't just him.

There was Calculator, the operator of a worldwide communications network, brokering information and residing as a middleman for and between supervillains. He had useful analysis on hundreds of heroes and villains of various degrees of experience and notoriety.

Talia al Ghul, daughter of international terrorist Ra's al Ghul. A high-ranking member of the League of Assassins – a group of extremely skilled killers capable of altering the trajectory of the world all on their own.

Deathstroke, Slade Wilson. The world's greatest and most expensive mercenary. A man capable of taking down just about any target on Earth, no matter how secure, difficult to reach, or powerful. The most key of insurance policies to have up one's sleeve.

Dr. Psycho, the world's chief telepath. A man with the ability to twist and warp the mind of the most invulnerable beings in existence, even those of alien origin. Quite the individual to have on one's side to keep order, to say the least of his abilities.

Black Adam, former champion of Shazam, equipped with the power of six Egyptian gods. A complicated individual, one of the most outwardly powerful on the planet, and the ruler of the country of Kahndaq, so if push came to shove, he had an entire nation's infrastructure at his beck and call.

Some of Earth's very finest... or worst, in this case. And now, he needed to maintain the allegiance of another.

Vandal Savage. The immortal warrior, over 50,000 years in age, that had seen every era that humankind had ever existed through. An influential figure in world history, having aided hundreds of emperors and conquerors; having been hundreds of emperors and conquerors, orchestrating major upheavals in society.

Having this man's support would tip the scales in Luthor's favor in no small measure. But doing so was no easy endeavor.

Vandal Savage cut an imposing figure. A man in an impeccable suit with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. His hair was slicked back and set in a long braid that went down his back. He stood tall and broad, with a composure and demeanor of a man that had seen absolutely everything there was to see. There would be no surprises. He would not be caught off-guard. There was no element of man he had not experienced personally, that he had not indulged in personally.

This was not a man who would find himself led around by the nose or used to do the bidding of others. Not under any circumstances whatsoever. And with all of the other things going on that required Lex's attention, he was finding it very difficult to keep Savage on his side.

"It's not a question of trust, Luthor," Vandal declared at a point in their conversation that had reached an impasse, "I'll tell you what I told Charlemagne. My reasons are my-."

"-Sorry to interrupt, Lex," Calculator entered, drawing Lex's attention and Vandal's ire, "But, the freak parade you requested is here."

There was still ongoing work that needed to be done to achieve his goal, after all.

Lex turned to his cohort, "Alright, Calculator. Please excuse me for just a moment, Vandal," It wasn't just an excuse to see to some of The Society's work, it was also a chance to let things cool down between himself and someone he desperately desired on his side.

It didn't work, however. Vandal Savage had seen every negotiation tactic in the book.

Vandal snarled, ensuring the attention stayed on him. He would not be asked to sit and wait. Not when he was the one who had been asked to meet, "Save it, Luthor. I resign from your Society. Don't ask why, and don't contact me again for any reason."

He turned to leave, with no one daring to do anything to stop him or try to sway his opinion in a last-ditch effort. Vandal Savage's decision had been made. With that, he stopped at the exit and turned around with one last parting remark.

"Oh, and Lex? If you ever try to dismiss me like that again, I'll show you what it means to be mortal."

Both Luthor and Calculator waited until the footsteps of Savage were out of earshot before either of them dared to say anything. Calculator was the first to pipe up, "He's sweet, isn't he?"

"Mmm," Disappointed, Luthor had to set that small failure aside internally, "Recent archaeological evidence suggest that he may have actually invented cannibalism."

Calculator chuckled at the anecdote, "Heh. Good one."

"'Good one' what?" Luthor replied, prompting Calculator to stop and realize he had been serious. A fortunate distraction presented itself with Talia's arrival, "Talia. Tell us some cheery news, please."

"Well, Savage seemed to be in a fine temper," Talia commented, having walked past the man on her way there, "Anyway, our numbers are increasing. Today alone, we've made alliances with several Gotham City villains, which will explain why I smell faintly of sewer-dwelling reptile men," She said, sounding annoyed at the pains she had to go through to secure their position, "But it's a bunker mentality. I'm afraid enthusiasm will dim if the bombs fail to fall."

A vexing day, Luthor felt, was only going to get worse, "Explain that statement."

Calculator decided to do so, choosing not to mince words, "She's saying, that when there was an open threat of being lobotomized by the Justice League, we could barely sign them up fast enough. If the 'heroes' should abandon such tactics, our ranks will eat each other alive, and how could we contain 314 bad guys? Despite your recent background, Lex, we're not diplomats. We can't just talk about the need for The Society."

The man had a point. The idea of The Secret Society of Supervillains could be seen as such, an ideal. While villains oftentimes had delusions of grandeur, the fact was that in practice, a great number of the better ones were pragmatic in nature. It was hard to get them to come together, as what would be in it for the individual to do so?

"You're right," Luthor admitted, muttering under his breath, "The one constant in this community is that we respond best to threats," Talia nodded in agreement, prompting him to continue, "Unfortunately, should the Justice League no longer choose to be our boogeyman, we'll have to create our blood and circuses elsewhere."

And there was a very juicy target available. One that was enough of a thorn in the side that getting rid of them would be considered a major victory, and vulnerable enough that doing so could be accomplished with the right amount of pressure in just the right place.

The Secret Six. And with a new bit of information from a... reliable source, they were ripe to be plucked, whenever they desired.

XxX

(Somewhere in Rural Vermont – House of Secrets)

After their jaunt in Houston, the Secret Six made their way back to their headquarters with great haste. On their way walking back to the mansion from the runway their jet landed at, Null busied his mind and his mouth with questions.

Being safe and out of harm's way (or as much as he could be surrounded by his current company), Null pulled his hood down and let his head breathe in the night air, "It was getting really chippy out there," He remarked on their exit after obtaining what they'd come for, "So what I don't get is, why hasn't anyone from The Society followed us here?"

Scandal was on-the-spot with an explanation, "Mockingbird says the house stubbornly refuses to show up on both technological and mystical surveillance. But he did say that it's a 'house of victims', whatever that should mean."

Null felt a chill go down his spine at that, "Well, that's comforting."

It sounded occult, or magical. He had yet to have a positive interaction with anything supernatural in nature. The fact that he was staying in a magic house that shifted the position of rooms every few hours left him very uneasy. Every time he ventured out into the halls; he ran the risk of getting lost forever.

Cheshire took a lapse in Catman's attentiveness, upon being back at the mansion to slide next to him and slip her arm within his, "Hungry?" She offered with a smile, "I may be eating for myself and your litter, Thomas."

Catman grit his teeth testily, "Cheshire, just so you know, I won't let that happen."

"Hmm," Cheshire's smile turned downright predatory, "Now what would that mean, precisely?"

Catman refused to allow her attempts to needle him affect him any further, "Just what you think it means, Jade," He said, leaving a vague hint of threat.

"I don't believe you," Cheshire replied, calling what she saw as a bluff.

Whether she believed him or not, Catman wasn't about to backtrack, "Just saying. I wouldn't start knitting booties."

Deadshot let out an amused laugh at the cold-blooded sentiment, "Heh. Knew there was a reason I liked ya, Blake," He threw a friendly arm around the man's shoulder, guiding him away from Cheshire, "Let me know when you plan to take her down. I'll bring popcorn."

Cheshire glared hatefully at the back of Deadshot's head as he and Catman entered the house ahead of her, "And I'll scratch you with something to make your insides melt and blister, Lawton."

Null, even as a young man, found himself exasperated by the dynamic between Catman and Cheshire. And he thought his dynamic with Rose had been toxic, "It's weird enough that you were dumb enough to actually sleep with her a bunch of times without wrapping your junk up. It's another thing altogether that it's like she's basically mocking you for getting her pregnant," He aimed his next few words at the still fuming Cheshire, "How do you even know yet anyway?"

The last time he had health class and they went over things like conception, he didn't remember anyone actually telling him how long it took for the signs to begin that let a woman know something might be up.

"It's been... oh, over two weeks," Cheshire revealed, smirking Null's way, "Believe me, there are a few… subtle ways that I know. Why so curious?"

Null held up his hands defensively. He liked Catman infinitely more than he liked Cheshire, but this was a grown folks affair, and had little to do with him in the grand scheme of things, "Whatever. As off-putting as all of this is, none of it is my business."

Cheshire grinned and reached up to pat his cheek, "Good boy," She said patronizingly.

Null made it a point to refrain from moving, so as not to be nicked accidentally by her poison-tipped golden claws, "Why are you still wearing those?" He asked through clenched jaw.

"Why not?" Cheshire asked in return before flitting off her own way.

With Catman and Rag Doll's enigmatic self, having long since made themselves scarce to do their own thing, Null chose to do the same. While he kind of liked some of his teammates, the less time he spent around some of the other denizens of the mansion, the better.

As the group began to break off, Scandal got a message on her watch that prompted her to call out to the others before they got too far away, "Wait, people. Mockingbird wants us for a meeting in fifteen minutes."

Still standing nearby, Deadshot pulled his mask off and placed a cigarette in his mouth, "You know, you take to the leash better than most dogs I know," He remarked.

Taking offense to the point of anger, Scandal quickly rounded on the man, "You don't know me, Deadshot. Trust me on that."

Her fists were clenched nearly tight enough to draw out the Lamentation Blades from her gauntlets. It hadn't been Deadshot's intention to start conflict, for once.

Deadshot held up his hands defensively, "Alright, alright, that was out of line," He apologized, managing to pacify Scandal for the moment, "Fact is... I'd like to see you tonight. Got some things I'd like to talk to you about."

The low tone of his voice, and the way he moved in closer so as to not be heard by the others seemed odd to Scandal. The implication of such a proposition left her at a loss for words.

"Lawton, I can't... I'm not..." She said, trying to come up with something, anything tangible to excuse herself with, "Mockingbird. We'll be late."

It was a poor excuse. She herself had just said they had fifteen minutes.

Feeling he'd been misunderstood, Deadshot simply let her leave, "Yeah," He said to himself, finally lighting his cigarette, "Who's really on the other end of your leash, lady?"

XxX

(Gotham City – The Hill – Society Headquarters)

Lex knew the day was going to be a headache, but it seemed that even after losing an ally in Vandal Savage, the hits would continue to land against him. News reached him and four of the remaining inner circle, sans Black Adam, that a matter of hours before, one of The Society's strongholds had been sacked.

"The Houston facility?" Lex reacted after hearing the news, "But that was Mallah's safehouse!"

Monsieur Mallah was not to be trifled with, due to his intelligence alone. The fact that he was an actual gorilla with the brawn to match his brain only made him that much more of an imposing threat.

Talia crossed her arms over her chest, a deep frown on her face, "Catman sliced him to ribbons, and Deadshot put a bullet laced with... something into his throat. Needless to say, he's not fine."

Not fine, as in dead. Along with Hyena. Along with Captain Nazi. Along with the entirety of the new Royal Flush Gang. Along with Zazzala, and a good number of her H.I.V.E. troops. All because of the Secret Six.

"Lex, it's time to quit underestimating these people," Calculator said, "We've faced them three times, and they've escaped three times. Whatever value you think they provided as recruiting propaganda has mutated into a genuine threat."

Lex narrowed his eyes at the thought that his carefully amassed Society could be troubled by a ragtag outfit, "No, we were sloppy, and they were lucky. There's an unseen hand at work here. I refuse to believe that these... these second-rate losers outsmarted us."

Deathstroke rarely sat in on any of these meetings, usually being out and about on business. Even rarer did he find the compulsion to speak on any matters. He was fine taking a hands-on approach to what needed to be done, as opposed to dictating policy. Now though, he found himself intrigued, given a few of the names that were on the Secret Six roster.

Of course, just because he was intrigued, didn't mean he felt like letting anyone slide.

"You've endlessly presented this council as a democracy, Luthor," Deathstroke said, getting everyone's else attention, "Now that we have their intel, let's use it."

Lex could feel the room turning against him. Everyone else was fed up with the pest group nipping at them, willing to put off work toward the bigger picture to deal with the problem, "It's a ridiculous risk. We should be exploiting them."

There were no turning opinions. From those who'd wanted the Six dealt with from the beginning, to those recently converted into seeing them as a major problem, minds were made up.

Talia was the first of the amassed inner circle to make it official, "We're voting, Lex. I vote aye on a final strike."

Lex quickly threw his own vote out, a last-ditch attempt to convince anyone to the contrary, "Nay. You could end up making martyrs. I've done that. It's a poor strategy."

Calculator looked over at Luthor apologetically, "Sorry, Lex. Aye."

Dr. Psycho slammed his hands on the table, the diminutive-sized villain standing up on his chair, "Yes, blast it. Kill our enemies. Aye," He said emphatically. After all, he had wanted to crush them from the very beginning.

Deathstroke chuckled to himself, "Yeah, that's an 'aye' for me as well," He said, bringing the matter to a close, "I'm leading the team. Calculator, get me some people that leave an impression."

Calculator grinned as he and Deathstroke got up and left the room to prepare, "You think big, Deathstroke. I like that."

Lex silently fumed to himself, with Talia and Dr. Psycho remaining behind. This was not what he wanted. He always knew that his primary problem within The Society would be keeping everyone's eye on the ball.

The Six were new and shiny - not something that needed the attention of a massive strike. They had sabotaged one major Society endeavor. But whoever was pulling their strings couldn't have had any idea just where Luthor's machinations lay.

Still, morale was important. Order could be reinforced later, such as immediately after the Six were dealt with. If it would shut everyone's mouth for the time being, he would go along with it.

A tone from Talia's phone prompted her to check it out. The message sent to her was quickly relayed to Luthor, "The Fearsome Five have returned."

Upon hearing this, Lex cast aside all thoughts on the attack against the Secret Six. He had a more pressing matter to see to, given what he had sent the Fearsome Five after.

The roster of that team had seen a change. After Rumble had been thrown out of a 10th story window during an earlier incident in Metropolis, his injuries required a replacement to team with Mammoth, Shimmer, Jinx, and Nano.

That replacement came in the form of an older member of a former incarnation of the group, the powerful psychic Psimon - a tall, slender man, bald, with the top part of his skull replaced with a clear casing that displayed the upper portion of his brain.

Upon greeting the Fearsome Five in the main chamber of the headquarters, Lex shook Psimon's hand, "Job well done," He said.

Psimon grinned at the praise, "Took a while, but we found him. Kind of a weepy little fellow, to be honest," He stood aside to display the man they had captured for Lex's interests.

A purple-haired man in green, aristocratic-looking attire was thrown to the floor by Jinx, looking quite the worse for wear after dealing with the entirety of the Fearsome Five.

"Pariah," Lex said, identifying the man, "I'm told you only show up when there's very serious trouble. That you can sense a world's destruction, like a dog sensing an earthquake," He stood over him, hands neatly folded behind his back, "Now why don't you tell me why you're on Earth at this time."

Pariah slowly looked up at Lex, and then to all of the others in the room, slowly shaking his head, "Fools," He said, "You think Luthor will share his dream with you? I see his dreams. He envisions owning a power ring, and a golden lasso, and a gleaming watchtower on the moon. He-."

"Enough!" Lex snapped. Pariah flinched, clearly having suffered enough physical abuse for the day to elicit such a reaction, "Your misguided observations are making my partners nervous."

Pariah gazed up at Lex, a pitying expression on his face, "You're a fool as well Luthor. Perhaps the biggest one. You think you're this planet's apex predator... but there's another. And you won't survive his coming."

XxX

(Somewhere in Rural Vermont – House of Secrets)

Null didn't know why he felt so apprehensive at having a meeting called so soon after their return to their base. The feeling in his gut was spot on, however, when almost immediately upon starting the call, Mockingbird tore into them.

"Do you think I'm a fool?"

He knew.

"Did you think I wouldn't know of your data theft at The Society's safehouse in Houston?" The eyes on the silhouette on the screen were intense and angry, "Let's roll the die and see who pays the price for that effrontery."

An apt enough metaphor, seeing as how they had gambled and seemingly lost. He knew what they were up to, trying to find him. Trying to reach him, to make him pay for press-ganging them into doing his bidding, into fighting his guerrilla war.

"Your budding precious family, Deadshot? A flip of the switch, and their block is dust. Or shall I withhold the medicine that keeps your bones from ripping through your skin, Rag Doll? Maybe I kill every great cat in every zoo in the country, Catman. Would that be a lesson well-served? Or your mother in Brazil, Scandal? Or Cheshire's daughter in San Francisco?"

"Fuck this..." Null muttered under his breath.

Mockingbird noticed and turned his threats to the youngest member of the team, "You have something to share, Null? How about-?"

"-How about you cut us loose?" Null suggested before the threat could be completed, "Look, you're sick of us, and I was sick of you the moment you gave me an ultimatum. So how about this? You want us to take out The Society so bad. Give us a go at 'em."

All of the other members of the team turned their heads to Null out of surprise and confusion at what they saw was an uncharacteristic reaction.

Even Mockingbird was caught off-guard, "What are you talking about?"

"A suicide run," Null offered with a shrug, "If we die, we die. If we don't, we don't. Either way, whoever makes it out and wants to be done is done. You find yourself a new six, and our families or whatever go free."

Only Deadshot was unsurprised. On the surface, Null seemed patient and passive, willing find his place in whatever was going on around him and work through it. But he'd caught a glimpse of what the boy was made of when needled far enough.

Here, after being forced to play Mockingbird's game, Null had tried to play by Mockingbird's established rules. Upon realizing there was no real benefit for him in doing so, he tried find a graceful way out of the game where he could get some satisfaction (i.e. getting to Mockingbird).

Now, after that had failed, he was settling for doing something to flip the board over, so to speak. Had anyone been paying attention, it was how Null's responses tended to escalate in less than desirable situations.

"And just where is this coming from? You're the least aggressive out of The Six."

What did aggression have to do with it? Whatever he lacked in outright aggression and malice, he also lacked in patience, and he made up for in annoyance, "What does it even matter to you? You want your enemies gone, so let us do it. We attack those saps on their turf and get it over with," He gestured around to his cohorts, "If you haven't noticed, we're really fucking good at that."

Unexpectedly, he received support, first in the form of Scandal, "He's right, Mockingbird. Killing our families will just make us useless to you as assets. If we die, you start over. But we'll die with your enemies' throats in our teeth."

"Oh, hell. Might as well," Deadshot said, lit cigarette hanging from his mouth, "All of this beating around the bush shit is fraying my nerves anyway."

Catman scoffed, "Might as well get it over with? Is that it?" Despite his words, he didn't disagree with the idea, "You know what? That works for me. So, what's it going to be, Mockingbird?"

The question hung in the air for a long time before the 'benefactor' of the Secret Six replied, "...Agreed. May your replacements be made of sterner material," He said as a parting shot before ending the transmission.

Null glared at the now empty screen and pushed his chair out to leave, "Tch. Fuck that guy. I'll kill myself before I take another order from him."

XxX

Rose Wilson sat in the back of the aircraft taking the Wilson Family to the site of their mission as members of The Society. She, her father Slade, and her brother Grant were alone, as they were capable of their own transport to wherever they needed to go.

While Slade took his place up front, keeping watch over the autopilot and preparing for operations once they hit the ground, Rose had plenty of time to be alone with her thoughts.

As she sat and checked over her weapons, her mind kept drifting back to the information that her father had shared with her.

Null was a member of the Secret Six. The group of criminals directly opposed to The Society. It was one thing to be told about it. After all, just because he was against the group her father, and by proxy, her, were aligned with, didn't mean she'd have to fight him. Especially when she was told that The Society weren't taking them seriously.

Oh, how quickly things had changed.

Now she was on a plane, sharpening a sword that was meant to go pointy end first into The Six, one of whom could have been Null. It had been months since she'd seen him, spoken to him, and the first she would see of him would be to end his life.

"I told him we'd see each other around," She said quietly to herself, looking at her own reflection in the metal of her sword, "...Not really what I meant when I said it."

Her brother Grant entered the back of the plane where Rose had taken up refuge. Giving her a small knock on the arm, he sat down on the floor by the wall right next to her, "How you doing, little sister?"

"Leave me alone, Grant," Rose said morosely, continuing to care for her sword, "I'm just getting ready."

Grant chuckled at Rose not even granting him eye contact, "Hey, no need to be testy. I get it," He decided zone in on what he knew her problem was, "No one's expecting it to be easy for you to kill your little boyfriend. And don't you dare say he isn't, or wasn't, I should say."

Rose always knew there was a chance they would run into each other again. The world of heroes and villains was smaller than most people outside of it were led to believe. Unless someone died, there was a good chance you would run into them again somewhere down the line. Hell, even if they had died, there was a still chance you would see them again.

She had never expected to say goodbye to Null for good. But then, she had never expected to have to fight him either.

Despite not saying anything, or showing a hint of reaction on her face, Grant had been around her long enough to know when something was bothering her. A quiet Rose was a troubled Rose.

"Hey," Grant got her attention, this time making her look at him, "You don't have to worry about him. I'll deal with him for you."

Rose's single visible eye went wide at her older sibling's offer, "You serious?"

It wasn't a Wilson Family trait to try and take on the hardships of another. Slade, Deathstroke, was a hardass, and that was the most generous way one could describe his personality. Given his station as the world's premier mercenary, that reputation had to be upheld by his children.

Deathstroke had a fondness for testing not only Rose, but Grant as well. Testing them physically, mentally, and emotionally, to make sure they could carry the load that came with being a part of the family unit. To that, end, they bonded over that hardship. Sibling relationship aside, it definitely brought them together quicker than they otherwise would have, so maybe that was Deathstroke's goal?

Grant rolled his eyes and gave his silver-haired sister another nudge, "Yeah. Look, it's clear you care about the guy. But we're heading there to kill these guys – your boytoy included. Dad's not gonna let you let him walk. He's not gonna let you squirrel him away until it's all safe for him to leave. He's gonna want to see bodies."

Rose let out a sigh. She'd already thought about all of this herself, "I know, Grant."

"Do you really think you can do it?" Grant asked.

He cared about Rose's reaction to all of this. Not just because of what having to kill Null would probably do to her in the end, but because the dilemma of doing it in the first place would endanger her.

Even if she was hesitant to kill him, Grant didn't know enough about Null to assume the same of him. The rest of the Six would definitely have no mercy on her if they caught her in a moment of weakness.

So Grant would carry that weight. Null meant nothing to him, aside from the fact that his death would make Rose sad for a time. All he had to do was convince her, "If you even try to take him alive, dad will make you do some shit like cut his head off in front of him, to make sure you do it. So, let me handle it. When we find him, I'll kill him myself. You just... go somewhere else."

"Dad's gonna put us together."

"Don't worry about that. What dad doesn't know won't hurt him."

Rose shook her head, as Grant was misunderstanding her, "No. If Sparks sees you, he's gonna know I 'm around somewhere too. It'll be better if I'm with you."

Grant gave her a skeptical look, "Better for who?"

Rose huffed and blew her hair out of her face, "Shut up."

Grant laughed at her response and blocked the subsequent punch she aimed at him, "Just trying to look out for you, squirt. I've got a lot of lost time to make up for."

Trying and failing to remain grumpy, Rose let Grant put a hand on top of her head, "Yeah, getting yourself killed will do that to you," She jabbed with a smirk.

"Don't I know it," Grant replied, taking it in stride.

XxX

(A Few Hours Later – Somewhere in Rural Vermont – House of Secrets)

It had been a few hours since things came to a head with Mockingbird. Long enough for the severity of what had been done to sink in. No one had even bothered to change out of their field attire. Only masks and hoods had been removed for the time being.

"Do you even have a plan?" Scandal had asked after pulling Null aside into her quarters.

It was a fair enough question from Scandal. Null's outburst and stand against Mockingbird had been something they'd all wanted to do out loud, but were all too measured to do. That it came from a teenager could have been chalked up to youthful exuberance. There was always the possibility that he didn't think it through.

Null, for once since being on the team, sounded entirely sure of himself, "I absolutely have a plan. It's a great plan. A simple plan. The best part is, nobody'll know what I'm doing until it's done."

Scandal had been working on decoding the information they'd taken on Mockingbird before Null had arrived. She turned away from the desktop she sat at and gave him a dry look, "You're saying a lot while saying absolutely nothing."

"Sorry," Null said, leaning against the wall by the door, "The short version is basically: get me to wherever the power supply of the building we attack is, then all of you get out. I'll handle it from there."

"What kind of plan is that?" Scandal inquired further.

Null allowed his eyes to glow electric blue, "The kind of plan I got from watching Firestorm go nuclear in Brazil."

Nothing more needed to be said. Scandal immediately got the idea. He was supposed to be the heavy hitter, after all. Apparently, that went beyond what Scandal had originally assumed it did.

Null wasn't sure if he could absorb that kind of power to have at his disposal, but he'd drained the entirety of a lightning strike with no ill effects. That theoretically meant he could comfortably handle more. How much more remained to be seen, as he had never gotten a chance to try and push his limits beyond that previous incident. But it was meant to be a suicide mission anyway.

*KNOCK-KNOCK!*

Null spared a glance to the door where Deadshot sheepishly poked his head in, "Oh. Hey, kid," Null shot him an upward nod in greeting as Deadshot turned his attention to Scandal, "Sorry about before. Honest. Got a proposition for you, actually."

Scandal made it a point to turn back to the computer when he entered, remembering their near conversation earlier, "Lawton, do you know what the word 'lesbian' means?" She asked, cutting to the heart of her suspicions.

Deadshot rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, while Null snickered from the wall, "I might have read a book once," He said, "No bullshit, I promise. You're good with computers, right? I wanna set it so my daughter gets an e-mail, like in the event we... you know," He trailed off, glossing over the possibility of their gruesome deaths, "...So she'll know I didn't forget."

That thought gave Null a bit of pause. Deadshot had at least one person out there who would care if he up and dropped dead. Null had two that he figured would have a problem if he disappeared and never returned, but other than that, he didn't have much of a support system.

That was kind of sad to think about. He'd gotten used to it, but still.

As Deadshot approached Scandal's desk to continue to plead his case, he stopped upon seeing a small framed picture on her desk. The face in the photo was one that anyone with his experience and clout in the hero/villain game

"Wait. Is this your dad?" He asked in near disbelief, "Vandal fucking Savage is your father?"

Null raised an eyebrow at Deadshot's reaction. He'd also noticed the picture, but didn't know who was in it, and thus didn't care, "Who's that? You know her dad?"

"Not personally, but shit, kid..." Deadshot paused. How to explain the concept of Vandal Savage to someone who knew nothing about him, "This guy is near the tippity-top of the 'do-not-fuck-with' list. Like, the baddest of the bad. So bad the Justice League would have to gear up before thinking about stepping to him."

Null winced at the description, "That bad?" Deadshot nodded in confirmation.

That then begged the question of what Scandal was doing rooting around in the mud with the lot of them. But Null doubted she would be very forthcoming with that piece of information. Personal business was personal business, and all.

Scandal smirked at the two of them, "I got my mother's looks, but I'm damn hard to kill. That part comes from him," She chuckled to herself and pulled up a chair, "Sit down, Lawton. We'll make sure your daughter gets your message."

Despite his new sense of tentativeness at being around what he now knew to be Vandal Savage's daughter, Deadshot still wanted her help, "Yeah, okay. Thanks Scandal. Really."

Before he could take a seat next to Scandal, Catman walked into the room, malice in his expression and gait. Null didn't even get the chance to greet him, thus alerting the others, before Catman stalked up behind Deadshot, grabbed him by the head and slammed his face into the monitor of Scandal's desktop, destroying it.

Catman pulled Deadshot's head back and stared intensely at the dazed assassin.

Deadshot tried to blink and croak out a response, "Guh... what the hell?"

Catman seethed in anger, "'Hunt or assassination, what the hell difference does it make if the target sees it coming,' you said," He recanted Deadshot's words from one of their first nights together, "'If anything, it's kinder in the back of the head. Take out the brain before the body knows it's done,'" He slammed Deadshot's face into the keyboard on the desk, smashing it and sending plastic bits flying everywhere "I distinctly recall you saying that, Deadshot."

Both Null and Scandal stood back in shock. The attack had come out of nowhere. Deadshot glanced at the two of them through his bloody features, "Get me a gun!"

It was all he was able to get out before Catman gave him a hard uppercut to the ribs, "In Africa, Lawton... I heard the prop of the copter, smelled the stink of Deathstroke's cigarettes. I came back to the den too late. All the pride were slaughtered, one bullet each, including the male that marked me. Gave me his spirit."

It being Scandal's room, there were of course weapons, and she knew exactly where they were. With Deadshot's request, she dove onto her bed for the nightstand where she kept a pistol in the cabinet. As she went to pull the gun out, Cheshire showed herself, keeping her from getting the weapon to Deadshot

"Just a moment, Scandal," She requested up close, her golden claws dripping with poison, "Let's watch the festivities. Homicidal boys will be boys, after all."

Null was busy trying to separate Catman and Deadshot before the latter was beaten to death, "What is wrong with you!?" He asked, finding himself unable to pull Catman off as he continued to rant.

"The only thing is... Cheshire knows Deathstroke quite well," Catman said, gripping Deadshot tightly by the collar of his outfit, "I smelled the cigarettes, but Deathstroke quit smoking three years ago. Guess he considered the health risks! Hnnk!"

Catman doubled over, his tirade ended, courtesy of Deadshot's fist being driven into his testicles, "Bullseye," Deadshot hissed through his bloody nose and mouth, "Get off of me, Blake."

Null took the opportunity to pull Catman to what he figured was a safe distance while he recovered from the debilitating strike. Catman's surprise attack hadn't left Deadshot any better off.

"Who else, Lawton?" Catman asked, nursing his family jewels as Null stood between them, trying to keep another brawl from kicking off, "Who else affiliated with one of the sides in this idiotic war could kill nine cats with one bullet each? Smoking your brand of cigarettes?" He shook his head, "I knew you did it. I just wouldn't admit it."

Scandal shouted from her bed, "But Cheshire's a liar. She lies!"

"No. Not this time," Deadshot said, standing up groggily to lean his weight against the desk, "He's right. I did it."

Upon the confirmation, Catman lunged under Null before he could grab him and wrapped a hand around Deadshot's throat, slamming him into the wall, "Murdering bastard! I'll tear your heart out!"

Again, Null got between the two of them, only this time he had decided that enough was enough, using his magnetic powers to force them away from each other. Deadshot was forced farther into the wall, while Catman was knocked to the ground across the room. Any subsequent attempt to attack Deadshot was met with Null keeping him from getting close to the via an unseen force.

Null looked between the two of them, hands extended to keep the other men away from each other, "It's not like I'm taking sides here. There's enough stuff working against us without having my team eat itself," He said, defending himself.

Before any hostilities could continue, a loud alarm went off, with red lights flashing through the room and out in the hall.

"What the hell?" Deadshot reacted, rubbing at his sore throat.

"It's the perimeter alert. Someone's found us," Scandal said. With her desktop destroyed, she went for her laptop and pulled up the security feed, "Merciful gods… there are dozens of them."

Dozens of Society villains, marching right up the front steps to the mansion. And they weren't just a gathering of no-names. Some of them, The Six had dealt with before, and many more they hadn't. Their location had been compromised.

As everyone else crowded around the screen, gawking at the veritable army of bad guys coming for them, Cheshire lingered back, away from the rest of them, "Hmm. Imagine that."

Given the threat that was right outside of their door, Catman quickly made a decision to put his interteam grudge aside for the sake of fighting for his life, "This doesn't change anything, Lawton," He said, to Deadshot, "Call Rag Doll. All of us need to make some kind of plan here."

While Scandal took off to go and gather Rag Doll, Null couldn't tear his eyes away from the crowd of villains coming for them. Scandal hadn't been exaggerating when she said there were dozens of them, "Is it just me, or does this seem like overkill for just the six of us?"

Cheshire quietly laughed to herself, "'Six of us'? Oh, darling. I'm afraid you've miscounted by one," All eyes instantly snapped to her, "See, I called them here, with a tracking device."

The gall of the woman, to stand there in front of them and admit to betraying them. She did it with no fear, as though there were no threat of reprisal. Did she think they couldn't spare the forty-five seconds from fighting The Society that it would take them all to tear her limb-from-limb?

"Are you all terribly cross with me?" Cheshire asked with faux concern, digging the knife deeper.

Catman grabbed her by both arms, beseeching her, "Cheshire. Jade. Tell me you didn't do this."

There wasn't a hint of regret in her face. To the contrary, she seemed satisfied by her actions, "Oh, but I did, Catman. Completely. Utterly. I did."

In the meantime, Deadshot had gotten his hands on Scandal's handgun, which he then pointed at the back of Cheshire's head, "That's it then. If we're going, then you're going first."

Cheshire didn't even register Deadshot as a threat, instead maintaining eye contact with Catman, "Will you let him do it, Thomas? Will you let him kill your unborn child?"

Catman let go of her and leaned his forehead and arms against the wall, "Goddamn you, Jade!"

Deadshot shook his head in disbelief, "Lady, you know what Mockingbird said. He'll kill my daughter. Hell, he'll kill your daughter."

They'd secured a way out. Granted, it was an absurdly dangerous way out, but it was one they could take to ensure that Mockingbird would leave them alone afterwards. This betrayal would only burn her in the end. He would kill Cheshire's daughter.

Cheshire seemed entirely unconcerned with the threat of such a loss, "You may be able to live under another man's heel, Deadshot, but I find it untenable. He may kill my beloved child, so isn't it fortunate that I'll soon have a replacement," She said, placing a hand on her stomach.

Null hadn't been around a lot of truly evil happenings, but something like this somehow sat worse with him than if Cheshire had just decided to try and kill them all herself. He couldn't even qualify it as 'dark' evil. It was just nasty. Unpleasant.

It served as a lesson for the future to always use protection. Always. No more risking the pull out to try and be cool. Safety first.

-And definitely pick a better quality of romantic partner personality-wise than Cheshire. Even Rose had been a better choice, and that was saying something.

"So, this is it, I imagine. An end to the bravado," Cheshire said, "The taste is quite extraordinary."

Deadshot growled and pinned her against the wall, gun to her head, "You fucking bitch. God knows how many Society freaks out there want our blood, and you invited them!"

"I can't believe I'm actually gonna die with you jerks," Null bemoaned to himself, "I mean, I kind of like most of you. Some more than others. You're all still assholes though."

Cheshire clicked her tongue pitifully, "You think yourself such a hard man, Lawton. You're an amateur, silly peacock."

"And you're a fucking corpse!" Deadshot yelled back, "Which is worse, you think!?"

Cheshire gestured with her head to the exterior of the mansion, "I think your own death is about to knock on the front door, darling."

"Uh, should we not be making preparations?" Rag Doll asked upon arriving at the scene, brought by Scandal.

Null nodded, "Yeah, come on. Maybe we can use this stupid house's layout to put up a better fight," He left with the contortionist criminal, leaving the rest of the adults behind.

Cheshire remained in Deadshot's grasp, and continued pressing and guilting Catman, "Will you let him do this, Thomas? Will you let him splatter my skull casing on the wallpaper, knowing the parcel I carry within my womb?" She asked, "...Will you let your new pride die as well, Catman?"

"Don't listen to her, Blake," Deadshot argued back through gritted teeth, "She betrayed all of us."

Cheshire scoffed, "You sicken me, Lawton. We were placed in an unsolvable maze, and I cut my own way out. Because only I dared."

Sweat beading on his forehead from stress, Deadshot cocked the gun, "Not yet, you didn't," Before he could squeeze the trigger, he felt the point of Catman's blades press into his throat.

"Let her go," Catman demanded, "Let her go, or I swear, I'll slit your throat and bleed you out right here in the hallway."

"Mockingbird, please advise! The situation is-! Mockingbird!" In a rage, she yanked the comm. watch off of her wrist and smashed it against the wall, "...He abandoned us."

None of them were surprised. Catman and Deadshot hadn't expected anything from their 'benefactor' once the chips were down. That much had been made clear back when they'd been captured.

No, Catman and Deadshot were more concerned with their standoff.

"We're going to die anyway. Hell, we practically asked for it. But the baby might live," Catman said, "You're only in this because you don't want your child to be hurt, Lawton. Just let her go. What difference does it make now?"

Deadshot took Catman's words into account, and after a tense moment, took the gun away from Cheshire's head and shoved her away as roughly as he could, "Get out of my sight, Jade. I see you again tonight, I'll put bullets where your brain used to be."

XxX

(Outside of the House of Secrets)

The last preparations for the upcoming battle were being made. Deathstroke walked up and down the line of amassed supervillains, many of them chomping at the bit to get inside and score brownie points with The Society higher-ups by being the ones to take down a member or two of the Secret Six.

A lot of faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, all with something to prove. Inner circle members Talia, Dr. Psycho, and Black Adam were there as well. But they were simply in attendance to provide guaranteed results.

With the odds stacked in their favor like this, the interior of the mansion in front of them was all but guaranteed to be painted in blood by the end of the night.

Deathstroke spoke to the would-be army of evil, "I know I don't need to say it with this group, but show no mercy. First, we hunt, then we execute. Is that clear?" At this, he made certain to cast his gaze onto his progeny, Grant and Rose - the latter in particular, "No one walks out of that house but us. Period."

Rose nodded silently, knowing that he had been talking to her without publicizing it. She pulled her mask on, features locked in a game face expression. There were expectations on her, and she wouldn't fail her family.

Next to her, Grant gave her a nudge, "So, you ready?"

Rose warmed up her muscles in anticipation for action, "Not my first rodeo. The sooner we get this done, the better."

Not too far away, a lanky man dressed in a ragged scarecrow outfit with a horrifying mask clicked the needles on the fingertips of a glove on his hand, "Do you think they're cowering? Do you think they're afraid? I love it when they're afraid."

Dr. Psycho turned to the crowd, making a declaration aloud, "I just want it know, Thomas Blake is mine. I don't care who does in the rest."

They were all ready. Good. It was just about time to get to work.

Deathstroke walked up to Knockout. Perhaps the most proficient person there who wasn't one of The Society's inner circle, "Knockout, I'm going to need you to lead a strike team through the front entrance while I take the main force around the other side," Since she would undoubtedly be going in, he needed her to try and help keep some semblance of order, "Most of these guys aren't soldiers, so I'm counting on you."

As a former member of Darkseid's Female Furies, she was one of the best prepared for this kind of fight.

The buxom red-haired Apokoliptian crashed her fists together, "Understood, Slade."

XxX

(Gotham City – The Hill – Society Headquarters)

The Secret Six was a headache the rest of his cohorts could focus their attention and energies on. It was only fair, seeing as how it was their idea to nip these particular enemies in the bud to begin with.

For Lex Luthor, however, he had more troubles closer to The Society's infrastructure to deal with.

A screen with a map of the Earth showed colored dots all over it, representing satellites that had been sent up to help keep track of anything The Society wished to check in on. Unfortunately, all of the dots were red, which was not a good thing.

It meant the satellites were out of service.

"It's no use, Lex," Calculator said, after trying for the better part of an hour to tend to the problem.

Lex paced around, hand on his chin as he thought to himself, "That's impossible. I went to a great deal of trouble, and depleted several secret taxpayer funds, having those satellites put in orbit."

Calculator pursed his lips in consideration. Lex wouldn't like what he had to tell him next, "Oh, they haven't disappeared, they've been hijacked. Hijacked by someone very, very, very, very, very good. And, they left an electronic cattle brand on them."

The information broker turned the screen of his computer Lex's way to show the green alien head that served as the marker for the offending hacker that had taken his satellites.

"Does this happy face mean anything to you?" Calculator asked.

Lex considered the image for a while before answering, "Nothing," He replied, "Calculator, those are the most advanced spy satellites in the world, or close to it. If they were turned against us..." He trailed off, not needing to explain just how awful that could be for them, "Can you break through and get control back?"

Calculator gave Lex the only answer he would accept without lying to the man's face, "I'll keep trying."

Lex walked away from the room. All he could do now was leave Calculator to his work. There was no one better suited to debug the satellites, and he knew how important they were. There was no reason to add pressure to him beyond what already existed,

"Do that," Lex instructed as he departed, "And keep monitoring our comrades in their extermination procedure against The Six."

Knowledge was power, especially in times like these. While the satellites were an easy way to keep the upper hand, there were still manual methods.

Reaching a heavily secured door, Lex pressed his palm to a scanner, prompting the door to unlock and open, "Since my satellites are down, and my A-number-one torturer was killed, I'm forced to dig up information the old-fashioned way."

Inside, the captured Pariah resided, held upright by machinery, with dozens of wires forcefully run through his body.

Lex greeted the agonized traveler neutrally, "Hello, Pariah. Comfy?"

There was no response, aside from weakened groans. That was fine. He would speak soon enough.

Lex leaned against Pariah's suspended body, one hand casually in his pocket, "Word is that you always know when a crisis is coming, Pariah. And you've been here on Earth. That makes me a bit of a nosey parker."

Pariah responded in a voice weak from mistreatment, "You can't torture the already damned, Luthor."

Taking it as a challenge, Lex rolled up his sleeves in preparation of getting his hands dirty, "I can very well give it my best effort, Pariah," He threatened.

Despite how he was painfully bound, Pariah could still move enough to shake his head, "I can only tell you what I know. There are other worlds. Other possibilities. And... there is another Luthor."

Lex lunged at him and tugged at the wires running through his face and neck, causing Pariah to cry out in pain, "I already know that, you poor deluded fool! I'm him!" He let go and turned his back, hands laced behind him, "I guess you're not quite as perceptive as you thought, are you?"

Pariah looked up and blinked in confusion, "But I thought-?"

Lex chuckled, "No. I'd waited some time for an opportunity," He explained, "He fled, and I slipped in, cleared his name, and usurped every aspect of his existence from him," A grin slowly spread across his face, "The other Luthor is in hiding, under a nom de guerre, in fact. Mockingbird."

Pariah felt his heart begin to race. Things had been bad with his capture, but now that he was aware of the true circumstances of his imprisonment, he could see just how terrible things had the potential to be.

"The Six know of your plan to mindwipe all of Earth's heroes," Pariah threw out there as a means to dissuade Lex from continuing down the current path, "They might tell the Justice League!"

If Lex had any fear of the Justice League, he showed none of it, "Well, see, first of all, The Six are about half an hour from their new cozy homes in the morgue. And second - regarding the mindwipe affair, I'm afraid you're a bit off base. I've got something much more interesting planned."

"I know," Pariah said, a hollow tone in his voice, "I see the damage you're going to cause. And I see that you're planning a betrayal."

Lex nodded, pulling out a handgun. He turned and slowly walked back over to Pariah's suspended position, "Yes. I was afraid you might. So, I think it's best if you never leave this room alive," He pressed the barrel of the gun to his target's stomach, "...No offense."

*BANG!*