The Fortress Breakout: Two "Damn it, I want to be in Gotham," Kestrel angrily protested, the black and purple clad heroine holding on to Steel's back. Oracle's voice was firm, "You know that Raven can handle it, Kestrel, we've got the irregulars in Gotham mobilized under her command." She paused a moment, "And I called in Catwoman, just like you suggested." "Finally broke down?" Kestrel smiled slightly, but Oracle didn't reply. "And I have to admit," B-ko commented as she checked her helmet's heads up display, "the situation in Washington DC is possibly a bit more urgent." "True," Kestrel acknowledged as they passed the outer city limits. "All right," she sighed as she got down to business, "so who is this Vandal Savage, anyway?" "A near immortal Vandal Savage has pursued his own agenda for untold centuries," Oracle answered crisply. "He fought the JLA and JSA over the years, as well as being a major player in several different global crisis," she finished. "And now he's taken Washington," Steel added as troopers opened fire on them, men and women dressed in various different uniforms. She weaved through energy fire smoothly, wrist cannon firing as she destroyed transports. Kestrel silently leapt into the center of the attackers force, striking out smoothly and effectively. 'Those are Kobra uniforms,' she noted as she fought on with a mix of speed and consummate skill, 'warriors from the Demon's Head, Intergang shock troops and even a few apes from Gorilla City. How did he organize them all?' Not far above her Steel took out the heavy weapons, her suit gleaming silver like some avenging angel. They forged forward together, driving the enemy backward as they fought through the streets. "Wish some of the others were available," B-ko muttered. "Sorry," Oracle said apologetically, "but Green Lantern is dealing with Mongul's attempt to reactivate the old Star Wars platforms and Flash is running across the country trying to put out all of the small fires." "And Mecha?" Kestrel crisply asked as they pushed on towards the capital building, knowing that they had a deadline to meet. "ETA twenty seconds," Oracle said impishly, "she'll hit right on time." Up on the podium in front of the capital building the black haired man waved dramatically. "This is our time," Vandal Savage declared as he addressed his followers, "the failures end here! We will change the world in ways that they could never imagine..." He trailed off, blinking as he saw a silvery object high in the sky. "What is that?" he blinked. THOOM! The shockwave sent crooks flying, the coordinated tactics that they had been using to slow Kestrel and Steel breaking down in the chaos. Mecha rose from the crater her landing had made, her skin gleaming and undamaged. "Looks like the armor upgrades worked," Kestrel remarked. “Overfire mode, activate,” D-ko loudly declared. The metal skin on her body peeled open as weapons mounted on her arms popped up and then a cannon sprouted out of each of her shoulders. D-ko’s sculpted ribs popped up and out to reveal missile racks, and along each leg more of the missile racks were revealed. From her eyes two red tracking beams activated, swiftly targeting the dead center of the enemy forces. "I would strongly advise surrender," Mecha said crisply. "Leave the troops to her," Steel said crisply as she saw Vandal Savage quickly flee the stage, "we've got to get to him, first." "Right," Kestrel agreed, the two of them following him as he fled inside the Capital building itself, hearing Mecha opening fire behind them. The building was dark as they raced through the halls, Kestrel on foot while Steel skimmed along above her. "Damn you," Savage threw a chunk of statue, clipping Steel's helmet and sending her crashing to the floor. "Not today," Kestrel kicked out at him smoothly even as she slipped a few gas capsules from her utility belt. She slammed them into the ground even as a simple mental command activated her cowl's built in air filters. The gas seemed to slow Savage down a moment and Kestrel felt herself relax slightly... a fatal mistake. Savage was on her in a moment, a large hand wrapped around her throat as he bodily picked her up off the floor. "Prepare to die," he hissed as he began to squeeze, then froze as something cold touched the back of his head. "You know," Steel said as she held her arm cannon to the back of Savage's head, "I really don't consider myself a hero, so if you don't let go of Kestrel right now I will blow your head off." Savage stood there a moment, weighing her words, then he eased off and let Kestrel go. "You know, I think I believe you," he put his hands up in surrender. Once Kestrel and Steel emerged with the captive Savage the fight seemed to go out of the mob, the regular police and military forces moving in to take control. "Did you mean what you said?" Kestrel asked as they watched from the sidelines. "Every word," Steel answered softly. Kestrel moved close as she purred into Steel's ear, "Thank you, partner." In the Watchtower mainframes Oracle smiled to herself grimly. 'I don't think I realized that about Steel,' she thought. She worked swiftly, organizing data to get a better feel of what was going on in other parts of the world. The Martian Manhunter calmly said, "You don't need to do this, Triumph." The blonde haired man in golden armor glared at the green Martian, his eyes glowing with pure madness. At his feet an older woman lay, her face bloody from multiple blows. "You should understand, J'onn," Triumph hissed, the former hero's teeth pulled back in a snarl, "I have to make all my former partners pay." "And beating up Vixen will help?" he asked, looking down at the woman laying at his feet. Vixen had been a JLAer once, a teammate and good friend, and it took all of his will not to lash out at the madman with all his power. "It's a start," Triumph shot back. There was a sudden blur of motion but Triumph was faster, raising a magnetic barrier to slam the Flash back. His attention diverted J'onn struck, slamming a fist into the side of his head and sending the forgotten hero crashing to the ground. "Oww," Flash pulled herself to her feet, shaking her head slightly as she asked them, "so what's his problem, anyway?" "Triumph was one of the earliest heroes," Vixen winced as she was helped up, "and led the first mission of the JLA." Before Flash could protest she continued, "But a temporal event wiped him out of history and trapped him in Limbo for years. He felt that he lost out on the prestige and place in history he deserved...." "And it eventually drove him more than a little mad," J'onn finished. Flash looked at the fallen Triumph, her expression a mix of pity and disgust. "So what did he mean, former partners?" she asked. "Triumph was a member of the JLA Task Force for a short time," J'onn said with a sigh, "along with Vixen and myself. It didn't end well." "I thought," Vixen visibly winced in pain as J'onn supported her, "that he was supposed to be locked up in the Fortress for life?" "Considering that the Fortress is rubble right now," Flash casually slung Triumph over her shoulder,. "that answers that." She touched the earpiece of her cowl as she got a call from Oracle, "Looks like things are finally dying down." "Looks like you guys have things well in hand," Vixen murmured to J'onn with a wry smile. "We're trying," he answered. J'onn activated his own communicator and a frown appeared on his face. "Many of the major players are still missing," he reported with a sigh, "like Cyborg, Gog, Enchantress and several others." "Which means we'll be dealing with them later on," Flash agreed with a sigh of her own. To be continued.... Author's Note: Triumph was introduced in the DC Comics crossover Zero Hour, where his backstory was revealed. He joined the JL Task Force when it was relaunched and stayed on until the group disbanded. He reappeared in the third JLA series as a villain, wielding a mystical lightning bolt and battling against both the JLA and JSA.
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