Chapter 27

Outside of Cape Canaveral, a limo pulled up.. Karen Starr walked out of the limo first, and Lena Luthor followed. Carol Danvers and Hadrian Kent-Luthor stepped out next. Outside of the launch sight of the Earth-Mars communication satellite, a collaboration between Starrwave, L-Corp, and Ferris Aerospace, the trio walked over to greet an attractive brunette woman.

"Ms. Ferris, it's an honor as usual," Harry said.

"And honor to meet you again and I told you, it's Carol," Carol Ferris said with a smile. "And Danvers, it's been a long time."

The two women exchanged a knowing smile.

"Oh, you know me, I've been busy," Carol Danvers replied with a smile.

"Ms. Starr, Ms. Luthor," Carol Ferris replied. "Are we ready?"

"Ready," Karen said. "Ready to see our handiwork get put up into the sky, as controversial as it is."

"Well, we've talked more than enough, haven't we?" Lena asked. "Let's see the finished product in action."

The satellite's public objection was to get better communication between Earth and Mars. Which was very important, but there was a secondary objective to get Harry, Karen, and Carol to follow a lead. It had to do with the Kree, and with the League Six in the tender custody of the Kree, they knew they had to follow it up. Something was not right about the sixteen hours and how the Kree treated things in the aftermath.

"Well, well, well, Ms. Ferris, it's a big day."

"Mr. Godfrey," the head of Ferris aerospace stated the moment that the man himself, G. Gordon Godfrey appeared on the stage with the members of the press.

"You know, all things considered, I'm not sure if we should be causing this launch to go by unchecked," Godfrey said. "I mean, sure the Martian Manhunter might be a do-gooder, but he might be an outlier. We should not judge people based off one person. I wonder why you're so adamant in getting this satellite up in the air. Why not just open up the gates and let the aliens in?"

"Well, we should keep all doors open," Lena said. "And even if you don't trust the Martians, maybe you should learn the value of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, Mr.. Godfrey."

"Yes, especially when that enemy is within your own bloodline."

"WE WON'T BE SILENCED ANYMORE!"

Harry's eyebrows raised up, as a group of women with their hair dyed pretty much every color of the rainbow showed up. He could hear Ferris give a very audible groan as Danvers patted her on the shoulder.

"We shouldn't have this satellite up. It takes the attention away from Femnist issues."

"Oh, you harpy, a man breathing the same air is an issue to you," Godfrey murmured.

"Space exploration is an extension of the masculinity threat of conquest. We should not take what does not belong to us."

The chanting got loud, obnoxious, and quite grating. Security moved in. Given a couple of them had been carrying batteries and other objects, Harry prepared to step in, just in case things got rough.

"Well, Gordon, I should have expected to see you here."

A woman dressed in a general-neutral business suit with a hair cut which looked like she wanted to speak to someone's manager stepped on the scene.

"Grace, you're looking quite….adequate today," Godfrey said.

"Taking time out of your day from your latest sexual scandal to cover this abomination of a launch?" Grace asked.

"Are you taking time prosituting yourself for favors, and then blackmailiing the head of the network with false rape allegiations," Gordon nastily replied.

"Slide into a teenager's DMs lately, Gordon?"

"Get caught in a comprising position with a Neo-Nazi?"

Oh, things could get a lot tense and Carol Ferris looked about ready to have the Godfreys and their supporters ejected. Both sides looked to be the worst stereotypes of the type of people who you would expect to support someone like Grace and G. Gordon Godfrey. A bunch of rednecks stood on one side and a group of Rainbow brite women.

"This is the type of pig who is keeping our cause back," Grace said. "He's standing in the way of female empowerment."

Grace's supporters started to snap, and Gordon just gave them the most nasty gaze possible.

"It's not empowerment when you spread your legs to do it, sweetheart,' Gordon fired back.

As amusing as it was to see those two go at it, Harry, Karen, and Carol had work to do. Added security came onto the base to escort the Godfreys and their supporters away as they started firing insults at each other. One of the women threw a battery at one of the guards before she was tackled to the ground.

"Come on," Harry muttered.

Security and the police had it well under control, which allowed Harry, Karen, and Carol to get to work to do what they needed to get done.

In a secret base in a swamp at an undisclosed location, a group of young individuals crowded around each other. The Terror Twins, Mammoth, Shimmer, Icicle Junior, and Kitten all paced around. They had been working for a long time together in various forms but they were joined by three new recruits.

One of them, Grail, a dark and imposing Amazonian looking woman. Her dark hair and greyish skin, along with her red eyes, and battle armor caused the other members of the Counter-Team to give her as much room as possible.

Ronin, a dark-clad archer dressed in black, leaned back. No one knew much about her, only she had been brought into the team by their new trainer, Taskmaster. Who lived up to his name.

And third, M'comm M'orzz, who looked agitated to be among those humans. But he had to play this game. For now.

"Alright, listen up."

Speaking of Taskmaster, he stepped into the picture and looked at them with casual indifference.

"You have a mission, and it's to stop a prison train moving into Kasnia," Taskmaster said. "The train has an individual who my benefactors have wanted for a long time. But, if we don't get this asset, we might not have a second chance. You'll see the information you need on your gauntlets. Any questions?"

The instructions and the plan seemed concise and to the point.

"Good."

"Move out," Grail said.

"Wait, who put you in charge?" Junior asked.

"I did."

A smarter man than Junior would have backed down under Grail's imposing gaze. But no one accused Icicle Junior of being a particular intelligent young man.

"I don't understand why. I've been at this longer than any of you and…"

"You are a misogynist pig!" Kitten snapped. "Just because your father's a big shot, you think you're entitled to a position leading this team. It's nothing but the Patriarchy holding people down. Check your privilege!"

Kitten smiled at how woke she was. She learned everything about feminism from listening to Grace Godfrey's broadcasts night after night and soaked in everything. Grace opened her eyes on how she could be a better person by understanding and reminding everyone of their privilege and shutting them down, especially if they were a man. In the name of equal rights, men should never be allowed to speak anyway.

"It's just like Grace Godfrey says."

"Yeah, Grace is doing pretty damn well, despite that damn Patriarchy," Tupperence said. "As are you, squirt, due to the fact you're going around in a Rolls Royce that you bought with Daddy's money."

"For your information, it's a Lexus, and it's just what I deserve for being part of a marlized group," Kitten said. "It's my reparations for three hundred years of male oppression in this nation. Grace is a champion and she's going to lead us to the promised land."

M'comm could barely stop from registering his disgust. Humans were strange. And should be killed to bring up the overall intelligence of the entire universe.

"You know what."

Tuppence groaned.

"What, Tommy?"

"The Godfreys are aliens," Tommy said. "They're trying to divide us, so the Lizard Illuminati can take over the country. Why, those liberal types already got us hornswoggled in thinking the Earth is round, when anyone knows it's flat."

Kitten just clicked her tongue impatiently. M'comm just glared Tommy in the eye.

"I know the Earth is round because I can see it from Mars."

"Well obviously, you think that, because they are pulling off some kind of mass hallucination, with some hologram projector thing," Tommy said. "Man, this thing runs deeper, even if they're fooling the Martians and making them think that the Earth is round."

"How do people not walk off the side of the Earth, then?" M'comm asked.

"There's a big wall of ice," Tommy said. "And then when they get close enough, there's some mass teleporter beam which brings them to the other side."

M'comm almost wished he had been buried alive on the moon..At least that would be a merciful end.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, including that stupid Earth show my sister watches," M'comm said.

"Knock it off and let's move!" Grail snapped.

Finally, the Counter-Team was ready. With M'comm knowing now more than ever before to murder humanity. It was for their own good after all.

Impulse stepped out of her room, eager and ready and also anxious, although she tried not to show it. Blue Beetle, Robin, Arsenal, and Wondergirl joined them. Also Karen Beecher, Bumblebee, who Nora missed during orientation, joined them. They were about to get their mission from Sara. And if Nora's guess was right, then they were going to go on the mission she wanted to.

Sara stepped into the central gym in the Penthouse to address the name.

"We've found out that there is a dangerous high profile prisoner in Kasnia," Sara said. "This individual, the Light would like to get their hands on. So, it's our job to stop them. This mission is best under the radar."

"No kidding," Bumblebee murmured. "I mean, foreigners aren't exactly welcomed in Kasnia are they?"

"No, they're not," Robin said with a shudder.

"This is an all hands on deck situation," Sara said. "I'll be there to monitor, but given my status, I'm only going to get involved if necessary. Cassie, you're field team leader."

"Me?" Cassie asked. "Are you sure? I mean Bumblebee has more experience….."

"Girl, trust me, you'll be fine," Bumblebee said. "You've got this."

"Yes, go break a leg," Arsenal replied.

"And everyone keep your eyes peeled," Sara continued. "Vandal Savage is going to be likely to send his private security force. He'll do everything possible to intercept the team."

They nodded and prepared to head out. Kasnia awaited and the nervousness of taking on such an important mission struck the various members of the team hard and fast.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Impulse asked. "Go and do this."

'The Impulse is much too excited for such a dangerous mission,' scarab said.

'I don't see why you are not excited,' Ruby thought. 'I mean, if the Kasnians tangle with us, you're going to get to blast them.'

'Mmm, point well taken,' scarab agreed.

A train rolled through the Kasnian countryside. A large, stocky gentleman with slick black hair and a mustache dressed in military fatigues. He talked to a dark skinned woman, with half of her face covered in Cybernetics, along with her right hand.

General Rusev, of the Kasnian Army, had been tasked with leading this task force. And his companion, Amanda Spence, formerly of Cadmus labs, was all too happy to help. Half of her body had been crushed in the incident involving the Supergirl clone known as Galatea. And she blamed both Lex Luthor and Superman equally for that event, but revenge would be served on both of them in due time. She waited, getting stronger than every day.

"The little Amazon will break soon, yes?" Rusev asked.

"Yes, she will tell us how to create the virus and I will create a deadly weapon which will bring our enemies to their knees," Spence said. "Finally, those filthy roaches will all be exterminated."

"Da," Rusev replied. "And Kasnia will be the number one power in the world. Not even the United States and their super powered bullies can pummel us into submission."

A loud screech echoed as the train skidded to a stop. Rusev stood up and turned to two of the soldiers who stood in the next car.

"Something is up," Rusev said. "That Vandal Savage, he must have made his move. He wants the weapon."

"No, the Light can't have it," Spence said. "They must be exterminated alongside the Justice League."

"Don't worry, they won't," Rusev said. "Crush them all."

With their orders, the soldiers nodded and walked off in the other direction.

The Counter-Team turned up with Icicle Junior stopping the train with a wall of ice.

"And much like the iceberg just stopped the titanic, I stopped this train," Junior said.

"Martian, do your thing," Grail curtly ordered.

M'comm ripped open the side of the train. Mammoth and Shimmer guarded him from either side, in case there was trouble, with Tommy and Tuppence bringing up the rear. And Kitten leaned back, half-paying attention to the mission and half watching the latest Grace Godfrey broadcast. Just because she was on a dangerous mission, it did not mean she had to stop being woke after all.

"And now we're….."

Several blasts of gunfire shot out. M'comm created a force shield which blocked his team. Until he got what he wanted, he needed them alive.

"Stand clear."

Ronin fired a single arrow which immobilized half of the army in some kind of sticky glue. The other half, not to mention some troops who came off of a second train, on the tracks adjacent to it began to fire on the Counter-Team.

"Oh, this is awful!" Kitten yelled. "OOOH!"

Her phone had been blasted out of her hand. Kitten's eyes followed the progress of the device before it smashed down onto the ground. Her heaving sigh echoed.

Suddenly, blur shot into position. The entire Counter-Team watched, bemused as a speedster showed up.

"Hey, it's that speedster who was breaking into LexCorp," Tommy grunted.

"Well, thank you, sugah, because you just saved us the trouble of doing the job ourself," Tuppence said. "Bless your heart."

And with that, she tried to punch Impulse. Impulse dodged the attack and swept Tuppence's leg from underneath her. She got an arrow to the knee from Ronin.

A second arrow burned in mid-air. Arsenal fired a warning shot. Bumblebee appeared on the scene, followed by Robin, Blue Beetle, and Wondergirl. The Team faced off against the Counter-Team.

"Man, it's like one of them Mexican standoffs!" Tommy grunted.

"That's totally insensitive," Kitten said.

"Shut up, Kitten!" Shimmer snapped. "We have more important things to worry about than what Grace Godfrey tells you to be offended by!"

Tommy looked at Shimmer, eyebrows raised in shock.

"Wait, I didn't know she talked," Tommy muttered to his sister.

Tuppence just shrugged and the Counter-Team faced off against the Team. Kitten called a small army of her father's specially engineered moths. The battle was about to take place.

Superman, Power Girl, and Captain Marvel all arrived outside of an abandoned Kree Outpost. Harry, Karen, and Carol, are running into the belly of the beast and running a big risk.

"There could be nothing?"

They met with one of the current Green Lanterns of Sector 2814, Jessica Cruz.

"We are running a big risk," Karen admitted. "But, you told us that the Kree might be up to something."

"Yes, and this outpost proves it," Jessica said.

Harry moved in and they moved into the abandoned guard station. Of course, after a brief scan for any alarms, they could safely go inside and Harry accessed the computer system with a bit of work.

"The planetary shields were shut down an hour before the League Six arrived on this planet," Harry said.

"Well, that's suspicious," Carol said.

It was, and they had to dig a little bit deeper. Something was rotten about this entire situation and Harry needed more proof. The proof which was necessary to bring the League Six back home and perhaps expose the Kree as not being the innocent victims they portrayed themselves as.

They would just have to dig a bit deeper.