Trapper Part 4
Trapper busted open the door to his warehouse and hauled Emerald in.
"You have what I want?" he yelled into the darkness.
The lights in the warehouse ticked on, one-by-one until a dark, female silhouette could be seen on the balcony of the second story.
"Yes." she said, tossing him a bag and walking down he stairs. Emerald sucked in her breath quietly as she saw Nightingale emerge from the shadows.
The villainess was clothed in a dark, baggy T-shirt and jeans. Even out of her form-fitting outfit, she was beautiful. Emerald struggled against her guards, who had already handcuffed her hands and feet, then handcuffed the handcuffs together.
"Nice catch." Lexi said, walking over to Emerald. She grabbed her hair and yanked it up so Emerald was forced to look at her. "Revenge's girl. How'd you get away?"
"It's war. I did what I had to do." Trapper said, walking over to an ammunitions table.
"That line's really getting old already." Emerald said.
"Shut it." Trapper said. He turned to Lexi. "Change her. Street clothes. Her uniform has a tracker and kill switch in it. Revenge will undoubtedly be heading here already."
"Killswitch?" Holly asked in shock.
"Your boyfriend obviously has trust issues." Trapper said, pouring himself some coffee. "Come on boys. Let's leave the girls to their...business."
"But boss! I wanna watch!"
Trapper turned and shot the man in the head. "Anymore perverts?" he demanded. Everyone shook their heads and went (at a jog pace) towards the exit. Trapper grinned wickedly and followed, locking the girls in.
Lexi removed Holly's uniform and after Holly finished sliding on a tank top and close cropped shorts, Lexi went to put the handcuffs back on Emerald. Holly went for a kick to Lexi's stomach, but the girl caught it and handcuffed everything back the way it was.
"Here's the suit." Lexi said to nothing. The door opened a moment later and someone took the clothes from Nightingale before leaving.
Lexi jerked Emerald up, but the blonde refused to move. After a few more tries, Nightingale bent over and whispered into Emerald's ear.
"Make this easy on yourself, Holly."
Holly froze and stiffened, her eyes wide with fear. Lexi sighed and tugged on the blonde who walked with her this time. Lexi took Emerald up to Trapper who was waiting in a control room.
"She's clean." the Hispanic said.
"Not quite." Trapper said. He snatched the domino mask off of Holly and shoved it in a box with the rest of the suit. Holly ducked her head to avoid being seen. Not only that, but to hide the tears as well. The mask being ripped off stung.
Trapper lifted up Holly's head by her chin.
"Ah, Grant's girl." he said. "Either you're having the biggest affair of a lifetime, or Grant is Revenge. I'm going to assume the latter. Just know, his death and loss of secret, were all your fault."
Lexi grabbed Holly's arm and drug her away.
"Why-why do you do it?" Holly asked, swallowing her tears as Lexi escorted her down the empty and echoing hallway. "Why work for them?"
"It pays to be on the winning side, not the right side, honey." Lexi said. She arrived at Holly's room and opened the door. Holly turned around and looked at Lexi with pleading eyes. "Come on, you must've done something for Sam to reveal his identity to you."
Lexi looked down bitterly. "My brother sold him out to me. Didn't want me to get hurt so he told me. I didn't believe him and...seduced Revenge into giving it up."
Holly looked at the girl, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I must admit, I've stooped pretty low. But there is still light left. You've just got to look for it." Lexi said.
Holly hugged the girl. Lexi hugged her back, tightly. Two years ago, Holly would've used the handcuffs to strangle Lexi and kill her. But this wasn't two years ago. And Holly wouldn't kill again. Not unless it would save a whole lot more lives.
Lexi broke away from the hug and pushed Holly in her room, gave her a look of compassion, and locked the door.
"They're moving her again." Revenge said. "Why the hell are they moving her?"
"No idea."
"That's five warehouses."
"Maybe they're as paranoid as you."
"I'm following, keep an eye on our signals."
"Yes, sir!"
"Not funny, Ravager."
Revenge lowered the plane and shifted it to stealth mode. It was quieter, but not totally. He still had to fly at a certain height to avoid being heard by Trapper's men. He spotted three jeeps, one covered and the other two with lots of guys and big guns. Revenge opened a screen and tapped the two armored vehicles. Receiving the lock on signal, he fired and they detonated in a fiery cloud.
Revenge slammed a button and dropped from the plane, landing with a thump (and a dent) on the roof of the covered vehicle. He reached in and threw the driver out. He punched the other one in the face and sprayed the two in the back with knock-out gas. As soon as his quick work was done, Revenge leaned in the back to look for Holly. Instead what he saw was a box. Carefully lifting the lid, Revenge stumbled back blindly, trying to get out of the truck.
"It's a trap!" he yelled.
The car exploded in a fiery inferno, debris spraying everywhere. The fronts of buildings turned black with the heat. Revenge, however, had learned his lesson and was standing in the wreckage, his suit undamaged.
"Damn!" he yelled. He fired a grappling hook at his plane and flew off.
"Dead end."
"What?"
"They set up her costume in the truck. Trapper knew the technology in the suit and exploited it to try and kill me. Now I have no idea where she is!"
"Just look at all the stops she made."
"Oh yeah right. Five warehouses? And what if they tossed her out to a group on the side of the road?"
"You're paranoid."
"It keeps me alive."
No response. Revenge flipped his plane around and flew back towards the bridge.
"Where did he go?" one of the men asked, literally shivering in fear.
"I dunno!" the other replied, just as scared, backing up and pointing his gun at every shadow.
They continued backing up until they heard a faint rasping.
"Ah!" the men yelled, turning around and firing at the black figure blindly. Red Revenge leapt at the two goons. He punched one in between the eyeballs. The other he grabbed and rammed into a stack of boxes which scattered to the floor.
"Where is she?!" he demanded.
"I swear I don't know!" the guy squealed.
"That's not the answer I want. Do you know what I do to people who give me the wrong answer?"
The guy trembled in fear. Revenge grabbed him and threw him into a stack of boxes. They crumbled beneath the man's weight and Revenge picked him up again.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know! Honest! Trapper just tells us what to do! We don't now where he is!"
"Are you sure?" Revenge asked, pulling out a dagger and putting it at the man's throat. A little wet spot was growing on the man's jeans.
The man whimpered. Revenge heard the kick before he felt it. He lurched forward and the dagger went clear through the man's mouth. He screamed and dropped to the floor. Revenge stumbled forward and fell into a pile of boxes they crashed on him, the computer parts smashing and sparking around him. He groaned and felt someone slide something under his mask. He gagged as he breathed in an unfiltered smoke. He began to feel woozy and collapsed to the ground unconscious.
"Your help has been most time-saving." Trapper said. Nightingale frowned as the soldiers dragged Revenge toward the door. "What are you going to do to him?"
Trapper smiled. "He gets an old western execution."
"Hanging isn't going to work."
"Well, not entirely old fashioned." Trapper smirked. He looked at the unlucky soul Revenge's dagger had ripped through his jaw. "I like you." Trapper said. "Somebody patch him up."
Trapper started to walk off, but looked back at the dark spot on the man's jeans. "Nevermind." the bullet went right through the spot between his legs. The man screamed and was silent.
"I hate it when they die noisy." Trapper said, and walked out of the warehouse.
When Revenge came to, it was almost morning. The faint sunrise could be seen over the horizon as the true catastrophe of the previous night came into view.
Revenge's goose chase had blinded him to the bombing of New York. Trapper's men had blown a hole in Times Square. Nothing looked the same. Bodies littered the street and what looked like flesh splattered the wall. Revenge groaned and suddenly noticed he was tied to a clothes line.
No, not a clothes line, a power line. He could feel the energy pulsing through the cables. If he could just get enough power...
"Good Morning." a voice called. Revenge looked up to see Trapper, Holly, Nightingale, and about thirty soldiers standing there. "Nice day for the end of the world, wouldn't you say?"
"Not grasping you." Revenge growled. More power...
"Well, you won't be around to see it, but the basic jest is America is going to launch its nuclear missiles at Russia, China, and Germany. They fire back, kaboom. End of the world."
"Not grasping the "you won't be around" part."
"Ah yes. Almost forgot. You remember that water and electricity is bad, right? Learned it in school?"
Revenge looked at two terrorists walking up with a hose aimed at him. The hose itself was hooked to a fire hydrant.
"Lights!" Trapper yelled. A blinding light was turned on and focused on Revenge.
"Camera!" Trapper yelled again. Even from this distance, Revenge could see every television screen, including his HUD, turn to a picture of him hanging from the power lines.
Palo Alto
04:32 PDT, March 3,
"Artemis!" Wally called from the kitchen. "Get in here!"
The blonde walked into the room and noticed every television on. "What-?"
"It's Revenge." Wally said, still holding his sandwich.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the world!" Trapper said. "Today you learn the true cost of your politically correct society!" Trapper spat out 'politically correct'. "Today you learn the price of being a hero in a world that doesn't need and doesn't want them. Today, you witness the death of your greatest hero!"
"Action!"
The fire hydrant sprayed water at Red Revenge his eyes widened in horror for a brief moment. Then the water hit. Electricity arced and Revenge's body jumped.
"NO!" Holly yelled, lurching forward. Nightingale held her back.
Revenge's body stayed in the frozen position for a minute. His back arched, his limbs outstretched, and his head looking straight up at the skies. Then he went limp. One of the terrorists walked forward and held out a scanner.
"Dead." he reported.
The terrorists cheered. Holly cried into the soft chest of Nightingale as the Hispanic girl glared, unnoticed, at the men around her.
Mount Justice
06:39 EST, March 3,
"No." Nightwing said, slumping in a chair. The rest of the Team looked on in horror as the Black Hero's body dropped, without a movement, to the ground. A few cried, others hugged, and some looked on with determined looks set in their faces.
The Watchtower
09:40 EST, March 3,
Batman shut his eyes tightly and turned away from the screen. The rest of the Leaguers looked on in horror as Revenge's body was dragged away.
"Let's go." Batman growled, walking toward the zeta-tube. "I want the Team ready to go as well."
He walked over to the zeta-tubes and pulled up a computer.
"Access denied. Zeta-tubes now offline."
Batman growled and slammed his fist down. "We're trapped!"
Palo Alto
04:47 PST, March 3,
Artemis cried into Wally's chest. He hugged her tightly and could only watch as the Black Hero was tied down with a ton weight and dropped into the Manhattan Bay.
New York City
13:42 EST, March 3
"Seven hours, sir." one of the technicians called. "We've shut down all teleportation devices on the planet. The only super-heroes that could get to New York in time to stop us are Batman, Static, and Flash. However, Batman and Flash are on the Watchtower, and Static is bogged down in Dakota with a detachment of our men."
"What about Superman?" Holly asked.
"Offworld." the technician replied.
Holly wiped some tears off of her face and watched as Trapper continued planning the end of the world, with no one to stop him
TO BE CONTINUED!
Trapper busted open the door to his warehouse and hauled Emerald in.
"You have what I want?" he yelled into the darkness.
The lights in the warehouse ticked on, one-by-one until a dark, female silhouette could be seen on the balcony of the second story.
"Yes." she said, tossing him a bag and walking down he stairs. Emerald sucked in her breath quietly as she saw Nightingale emerge from the shadows.
The villainess was clothed in a dark, baggy T-shirt and jeans. Even out of her form-fitting outfit, she was beautiful. Emerald struggled against her guards, who had already handcuffed her hands and feet, then handcuffed the handcuffs together.
"Nice catch." Lexi said, walking over to Emerald. She grabbed her hair and yanked it up so Emerald was forced to look at her. "Revenge's girl. How'd you get away?"
"It's war. I did what I had to do." Trapper said, walking over to an ammunitions table.
"That line's really getting old already." Emerald said.
"Shut it." Trapper said. He turned to Lexi. "Change her. Street clothes. Her uniform has a tracker and kill switch in it. Revenge will undoubtedly be heading here already."
"Killswitch?" Holly asked in shock.
"Your boyfriend obviously has trust issues." Trapper said, pouring himself some coffee. "Come on boys. Let's leave the girls to their...business."
"But boss! I wanna watch!"
Trapper turned and shot the man in the head. "Anymore perverts?" he demanded. Everyone shook their heads and went (at a jog pace) towards the exit. Trapper grinned wickedly and followed, locking the girls in.
Lexi removed Holly's uniform and after Holly finished sliding on a tank top and close cropped shorts, Lexi went to put the handcuffs back on Emerald. Holly went for a kick to Lexi's stomach, but the girl caught it and handcuffed everything back the way it was.
"Here's the suit." Lexi said to nothing. The door opened a moment later and someone took the clothes from Nightingale before leaving.
Lexi jerked Emerald up, but the blonde refused to move. After a few more tries, Nightingale bent over and whispered into Emerald's ear.
"Make this easy on yourself, Holly."
Holly froze and stiffened, her eyes wide with fear. Lexi sighed and tugged on the blonde who walked with her this time. Lexi took Emerald up to Trapper who was waiting in a control room.
"She's clean." the Hispanic said.
"Not quite." Trapper said. He snatched the domino mask off of Holly and shoved it in a box with the rest of the suit. Holly ducked her head to avoid being seen. Not only that, but to hide the tears as well. The mask being ripped off stung.
Trapper lifted up Holly's head by her chin.
"Ah, Grant's girl." he said. "Either you're having the biggest affair of a lifetime, or Grant is Revenge. I'm going to assume the latter. Just know, his death and loss of secret, were all your fault."
Lexi grabbed Holly's arm and drug her away.
"Why-why do you do it?" Holly asked, swallowing her tears as Lexi escorted her down the empty and echoing hallway. "Why work for them?"
"It pays to be on the winning side, not the right side, honey." Lexi said. She arrived at Holly's room and opened the door. Holly turned around and looked at Lexi with pleading eyes. "Come on, you must've done something for Sam to reveal his identity to you."
Lexi looked down bitterly. "My brother sold him out to me. Didn't want me to get hurt so he told me. I didn't believe him and...seduced Revenge into giving it up."
Holly looked at the girl, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I must admit, I've stooped pretty low. But there is still light left. You've just got to look for it." Lexi said.
Holly hugged the girl. Lexi hugged her back, tightly. Two years ago, Holly would've used the handcuffs to strangle Lexi and kill her. But this wasn't two years ago. And Holly wouldn't kill again. Not unless it would save a whole lot more lives.
Lexi broke away from the hug and pushed Holly in her room, gave her a look of compassion, and locked the door.
"They're moving her again." Revenge said. "Why the hell are they moving her?"
"No idea."
"That's five warehouses."
"Maybe they're as paranoid as you."
"I'm following, keep an eye on our signals."
"Yes, sir!"
"Not funny, Ravager."
Revenge lowered the plane and shifted it to stealth mode. It was quieter, but not totally. He still had to fly at a certain height to avoid being heard by Trapper's men. He spotted three jeeps, one covered and the other two with lots of guys and big guns. Revenge opened a screen and tapped the two armored vehicles. Receiving the lock on signal, he fired and they detonated in a fiery cloud.
Revenge slammed a button and dropped from the plane, landing with a thump (and a dent) on the roof of the covered vehicle. He reached in and threw the driver out. He punched the other one in the face and sprayed the two in the back with knock-out gas. As soon as his quick work was done, Revenge leaned in the back to look for Holly. Instead what he saw was a box. Carefully lifting the lid, Revenge stumbled back blindly, trying to get out of the truck.
"It's a trap!" he yelled.
The car exploded in a fiery inferno, debris spraying everywhere. The fronts of buildings turned black with the heat. Revenge, however, had learned his lesson and was standing in the wreckage, his suit undamaged.
"Damn!" he yelled. He fired a grappling hook at his plane and flew off.
"Dead end."
"What?"
"They set up her costume in the truck. Trapper knew the technology in the suit and exploited it to try and kill me. Now I have no idea where she is!"
"Just look at all the stops she made."
"Oh yeah right. Five warehouses? And what if they tossed her out to a group on the side of the road?"
"You're paranoid."
"It keeps me alive."
No response. Revenge flipped his plane around and flew back towards the bridge.
"Where did he go?" one of the men asked, literally shivering in fear.
"I dunno!" the other replied, just as scared, backing up and pointing his gun at every shadow.
They continued backing up until they heard a faint rasping.
"Ah!" the men yelled, turning around and firing at the black figure blindly. Red Revenge leapt at the two goons. He punched one in between the eyeballs. The other he grabbed and rammed into a stack of boxes which scattered to the floor.
"Where is she?!" he demanded.
"I swear I don't know!" the guy squealed.
"That's not the answer I want. Do you know what I do to people who give me the wrong answer?"
The guy trembled in fear. Revenge grabbed him and threw him into a stack of boxes. They crumbled beneath the man's weight and Revenge picked him up again.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know! Honest! Trapper just tells us what to do! We don't now where he is!"
"Are you sure?" Revenge asked, pulling out a dagger and putting it at the man's throat. A little wet spot was growing on the man's jeans.
The man whimpered. Revenge heard the kick before he felt it. He lurched forward and the dagger went clear through the man's mouth. He screamed and dropped to the floor. Revenge stumbled forward and fell into a pile of boxes they crashed on him, the computer parts smashing and sparking around him. He groaned and felt someone slide something under his mask. He gagged as he breathed in an unfiltered smoke. He began to feel woozy and collapsed to the ground unconscious.
"Your help has been most time-saving." Trapper said. Nightingale frowned as the soldiers dragged Revenge toward the door. "What are you going to do to him?"
Trapper smiled. "He gets an old western execution."
"Hanging isn't going to work."
"Well, not entirely old fashioned." Trapper smirked. He looked at the unlucky soul Revenge's dagger had ripped through his jaw. "I like you." Trapper said. "Somebody patch him up."
Trapper started to walk off, but looked back at the dark spot on the man's jeans. "Nevermind." the bullet went right through the spot between his legs. The man screamed and was silent.
"I hate it when they die noisy." Trapper said, and walked out of the warehouse.
When Revenge came to, it was almost morning. The faint sunrise could be seen over the horizon as the true catastrophe of the previous night came into view.
Revenge's goose chase had blinded him to the bombing of New York. Trapper's men had blown a hole in Times Square. Nothing looked the same. Bodies littered the street and what looked like flesh splattered the wall. Revenge groaned and suddenly noticed he was tied to a clothes line.
No, not a clothes line, a power line. He could feel the energy pulsing through the cables. If he could just get enough power...
"Good Morning." a voice called. Revenge looked up to see Trapper, Holly, Nightingale, and about thirty soldiers standing there. "Nice day for the end of the world, wouldn't you say?"
"Not grasping you." Revenge growled. More power...
"Well, you won't be around to see it, but the basic jest is America is going to launch its nuclear missiles at Russia, China, and Germany. They fire back, kaboom. End of the world."
"Not grasping the "you won't be around" part."
"Ah yes. Almost forgot. You remember that water and electricity is bad, right? Learned it in school?"
Revenge looked at two terrorists walking up with a hose aimed at him. The hose itself was hooked to a fire hydrant.
"Lights!" Trapper yelled. A blinding light was turned on and focused on Revenge.
"Camera!" Trapper yelled again. Even from this distance, Revenge could see every television screen, including his HUD, turn to a picture of him hanging from the power lines.
Palo Alto
04:32 PDT, March 3,
"Artemis!" Wally called from the kitchen. "Get in here!"
The blonde walked into the room and noticed every television on. "What-?"
"It's Revenge." Wally said, still holding his sandwich.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the world!" Trapper said. "Today you learn the true cost of your politically correct society!" Trapper spat out 'politically correct'. "Today you learn the price of being a hero in a world that doesn't need and doesn't want them. Today, you witness the death of your greatest hero!"
"Action!"
The fire hydrant sprayed water at Red Revenge his eyes widened in horror for a brief moment. Then the water hit. Electricity arced and Revenge's body jumped.
"NO!" Holly yelled, lurching forward. Nightingale held her back.
Revenge's body stayed in the frozen position for a minute. His back arched, his limbs outstretched, and his head looking straight up at the skies. Then he went limp. One of the terrorists walked forward and held out a scanner.
"Dead." he reported.
The terrorists cheered. Holly cried into the soft chest of Nightingale as the Hispanic girl glared, unnoticed, at the men around her.
Mount Justice
06:39 EST, March 3,
"No." Nightwing said, slumping in a chair. The rest of the Team looked on in horror as the Black Hero's body dropped, without a movement, to the ground. A few cried, others hugged, and some looked on with determined looks set in their faces.
The Watchtower
09:40 EST, March 3,
Batman shut his eyes tightly and turned away from the screen. The rest of the Leaguers looked on in horror as Revenge's body was dragged away.
"Let's go." Batman growled, walking toward the zeta-tube. "I want the Team ready to go as well."
He walked over to the zeta-tubes and pulled up a computer.
"Access denied. Zeta-tubes now offline."
Batman growled and slammed his fist down. "We're trapped!"
Palo Alto
04:47 PST, March 3,
Artemis cried into Wally's chest. He hugged her tightly and could only watch as the Black Hero was tied down with a ton weight and dropped into the Manhattan Bay.
New York City
13:42 EST, March 3
"Seven hours, sir." one of the technicians called. "We've shut down all teleportation devices on the planet. The only super-heroes that could get to New York in time to stop us are Batman, Static, and Flash. However, Batman and Flash are on the Watchtower, and Static is bogged down in Dakota with a detachment of our men."
"What about Superman?" Holly asked.
"Offworld." the technician replied.
Holly wiped some tears off of her face and watched as Trapper continued planning the end of the world, with no one to stop him
TO BE CONTINUED!
