Washington, D.C.[/I]
Lois Lane sighed as she looked across the pressroom at Luthor’s smug face. After spending the last decade watching him buy up more and more of Metropolis, she had started to take out-of-town assignments just to get away from that face. In fact, about the only thing in the city he didn’t own now was her workplace, the Daily Planet, and that only because Perry White wouldn’t sell.
She listened while Lex himself outlined their plan to deploy his OMACs around the country, speaking to the press with Amanda Waller, Cabinet member of the Department of Homeland Security. As soon as he finished, she raised her hand.
“Lois Lane, Daily Planet,” she started, standing after they pointed to her. “Shouldn’t the people be concerned about being protected by a bunch of machines?”
“Ah Lois, a pleasure as always,” Lex replied with a smile that Lois might have found charming, if she didn’t know what kind of man he was inside. “That’s already been addressed in the design. Each OMAC will have a human operator nearby, monitoring and ready to take control of it should any problems arise.” Lois sat back down and listened carefully to the well-crafted, well-rehearsed response to every question asked.
* * * * * * * * * *
San Francisco, California; A Few Days Later[/I]
The bank alarm blared loudly behind the villain who called himself Bloodsport as he strolled out of the bank. He had taken only a few steps onto the sidewalk when an OMAC stomped up towards him, clanking as it walked.
“What’s this then?” Bloodsport said. “I was expecting Supergirl, and instead I get some guy in a suit of armor.”
“Do not move!” the OMAC replied, raising an arm, a weapon popping out of the forearm. “You are under arrest!”
“Really?” Bloodsport asked. “What are you going to do when I do this, then?” he taunted, teleporting away to appear to the side of the OMAC. “Or this?” He ‘ported again to the other side of the machine. “Or maybe this?” This time he appeared behind the robot, carrying an RPG launcher, and quickly firing it.
A cloud of dust and flame filled the area where the OMAC stood, but when it vanished, the machine was still there, facing Bloodsport. Bloodsport’s mask hid the shock on his face. “Let’s see if you can handle this then!” he growled, ‘porting away and returning with different weapons, firing them at the machine from numerous angles, each attack ineffective.
The OMAC merely watched the villain’s actions, calculating its options. Finally it raised its weapon again, firing into what seemed to be empty air, but catching Bloodsport just as he teleported in. Hit by the stun beam, the villain collapsed unconscious.
The OMAC stomped over to him, pulled off the belt he used to teleport, and cuffed him. “Everything is under control!” he told the crowd watching. “Move along!”
* * * * * * * * * *
Gotham City, Massachusetts[/I]
The flames of the burning building flickered, reflecting in the goggles worn by Firefly. He stood there atop a building watching the blaze he’d just set when he heard a clang behind him. He found an OMAC standing there when he turned to look. “What’s this? New fireproof suit, Bats? Let’s see how it works.”
A stream of fire launched from the flamethrower he wore, washing over the machine, but leaving it unharmed. “Surrender!” the OMAC ordered.
“You’re not Batman,” Firefly said, the jetpack he wore flaring to life as he took off into the sky. The OMAC quickly raised an arm and fired a cord from its wrist to wrap around Firefly’s legs.
The villain turned to look back, hovering in midair. He watched the OMAC slowly reach up, grab the wire with its other hand and yank. The pure force overpowered Firefly’s jetpack and he crashed to the ground, knocked unconscious.
* * * * * * * * * *
Metropolis, New York[/I]
“So far there have been about fifty arrests country-wide, either by OMACs on their own or aiding local law enforcement,” Mercy told Lex, reading from the report in her hand.
“Very good,” Lex replied. “It appears that Ivo outdid himself, for once.”
“Indeed,” Mercy agreed. “And, as ordered, Metropolis law enforcement has been given a month’s vacation, with pay.”
Lex nodded. “Once the world sees how well Metropolis runs with my OMACs protecting it, they’ll be lining up at my door with orders. Anything else, Mercy?”
“Just that Mr. Mannheim is here to see you.”
“Very good. Send him in on your way out,” Lex told her. Mercy nodded and left. A few moments later a large, unattractive man stepped into the room. “Ah, Mr. Mannheim, have a seat.”
“I’d rather stand,” Bruno Mannheim said, “I won’t be here long.” He looked Lex in the eyes. “Some of my associates are concerned about your newest toy.”
“Of course,” Lex said, turning away from Mannheim to look out the window. “You can tell your… associates that as long as they continue to abide by our current deal, they have nothing to worry about.”
“You’d better be right, Mr. Luthor.”
“I’m always right, Mr. Mannheim,” Lex told him simply.
* * * * * * * * * *
Cape Canaveral, Florida[/I]
“T-minus five minutes to launch,” Dixon announced, sitting at his seat in the control room. Outside on a nearby launch pad, NASA’s latest satellite was about to be sent into space. Everything was going according to plan… until suddenly, one of the proximity alarms went off.
“Some fools wandered into the launch area,” he muttered, turning to check the camera while he reached for the phone to call security. He dropped the phone when he looked at the screen. “What the hell?!” A giant woman stood on the pavement, at least the size of the rocket itself. “Abort the launch!” he shouted.
Giganta marched through Kennedy Space Center, leaving wreckage behind her. She picked up a jeep to hurl it at a group of soldiers, who just managed to get out of the way in time. As the huge woman looked back at the rocket, an OMAC hovered into view, just in front of her face. “Halt! You are trespassing! Leave now or you will be arrested!”
The super villainess swiped at the machine, sending it crashing to the ground, and then turned her attention back to the rocket. She reached out for the rocket, but felt something wrap around her legs. Giganta looked down again to see the OMAC flying around her, wrapping a cord around her legs.
Her attempts to bat it back to the ground failed over and over, as it wrapped up the rest of her body. A small tug was all it took to send her crashing to the ground.
* * * * * * * * * *
Undisclosed Location, Somewhere in the Western United States[/I]
Slade Wilson (known to many as Deathstroke the Terminator) had just sat down on a lush couch with a bowl of popcorn, when the door to one of his homes burst inward. “Slade Wilson! You are under arrest!” came the mechanical voice of an OMAC as it entered the room.
“Great, now I’m going to miss Kitchen Nightmares,” Slade growled as he grabbed his sword from where it lay nearby. “Let’s get this over with. I’ve got plans for today.”
The OMAC fired a blast that Slade easily dodged, kicking over the sofa into the machine’s path. It moved around, trying to get into Slade’s blind spot, on the side where his eye was gone.
“Better men then you, have tired that,” Slade said, bringing his sword down, its razor sharp edge slicing the robot’s right arm clean off. Slade looked at the arm. “But then, you’re not a man at all.”
The OMAC responded by firing a cord around Slade’s body, pining his arms to his sides. A beam weapon then popped out of its forearm. Slade managed to flick his wrists and move his sword just enough to redirect the beam, using it to cut the cord tying him up. He then flipped backwards, grabbing the TV and throwing it at the machine, which easily knocked it away.
Using the momentary distraction, Slade moved in and slashed through the OMAC’s single eye. “Going to sensor mode!” the machine beeped as it continued to advance.
“Great,” Slade hissed, dodging another energy blast and backing into the kitchen. He stepped behind the doorframe, ambushing the machine as it entered and damaging its right leg before the OMAC knocked him aside.
He rolled with the hit, bouncing back to his feet and diving out of the way of another attack. “You are good,” he told the machine. “But I’m better.” His blade slipped past the robot’s defenses and sliced its right leg in two easily.
“Warning! Stability impaired! Compensating!”
“Let’s see you compensate for this!” Slade growled, sliding his sword right into the machine’s chest. The OMAC simply looked down at the weapon, before pulling it out with its remaining hand and tossing it aside.
Slade quickly glanced around, grabbing a pan from the stove to toss at the OMAC, distracting it again so he could get back to his sword. When the machine turned to face him, Slade dove out a nearby window. He stood, pulled a device from his pocket and pressed it.
As he walked away from the house, it exploded behind him, vaporizing everything inside. “So much for the security deposit,” he sighed.
* * * * * * * * * *
Gotham City, Massachusetts, Two Days Later[/I]
Nightwing, Flash, Supergirl and Wonder Woman stood in the center of Oracle’s control room, the redheaded woman sitting in her wheelchair at the computer system before them. After a long discussion, Dick, Wally and Barbara had decided to trust the two heroines with her identity.
“It took me a while to figure out what was stolen, and a bit longer to figure out what they could be used for, but I’ve finally got a few possibilities,” Barbara said. She pressed a few buttons, and the stolen items popped up on her computer screens.
“Given that there haven’t been any other similar crimes, the most likely use for these items is this,” she continued, pressing a few more buttons to change the screens. “It’s a transmitter, more powerful then any other in the world. The only question is what they’re using it for.”
“Can’t we track down this Calculator?” Wonder Woman asked.
“That’s the problem,” Nightwing said. “Oracle’s tried to track him in the past. How far did you get again?” he asked Barbara.
“I traced his signal through thirty-nine states, two dozen countries, fifteen satellites
and the international space station before I lost it,” Oracle told them. “Besides, he’s just a middle man,” she added. “Someone else must have used him to hire Croc and the others.”
“Well, do what you do best and figure out who, and we’ll do what we do best and take him down,” Flash said, before turning to Wonder Woman and Supergirl. “And after we’re done we can go out and celebrate,” he added, giving the two women a wink.
“That depends. Are you, indeed, the fastest man alive?” Supergirl asked.
“I am,” Flash said proudly with a nod.
“I thought so. That’s what all the ladies say,” Kara replied with a snicker.
“Wait? No, not like that! Not like that!” he protested as Nightwing and Oracle chuckled behind him, Wonder Woman looking a bit confused.
“I’ll explain later,” Supergirl whispered to Diana.
Barbara tuned back to her computer. “Hmm… got an e-mail. ‘Regarding your latest investigation’?” she said, reading the title. After running it through every virus scan she had, she opened it. Inside was a video clip, which Oracle played. It was part of the OMAC press conference from earlier that week.
“ ‘Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Shouldn’t the people be concerned about being protected by a bunch of machines’?”
“ ‘Ah Lois, a pleasure as always. That’s already been addressed in the design. Each OMAC will have a human operator nearby monitoring and ready to take control of it should any problems arise’.”
“Who sent the e-mail?” Wally asked.
“I don’t know,” Barbara said, turning around to look over the other heroes.
Nightwing, Oracle and Supergirl looked at each other for a second. “You don’t think…” Kara started.
“Think what?” Wonder Woman asked as Oracle punched in some figures.
“With the transmitter they stole, they could take over an OMAC,” Nightwing finished the thought.
“No,” Barbara said. “With that transmitter, they could take over all of them.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Metropolis, New York[/I]
“I don’t know why we had to wait so long to deliver this,” Killer Croc muttered. He carried the devices they’d stolen into Ivo hidden lab and set them down.
“Because,” Ivo said, “I couldn’t risk anyone knowing they were here until I was ready. And be careful, those are irreplaceable!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Croc replied.
“I’ll just be glad when this is over and we can get away from
him,” Captain Boomerang muttered, nodding towards Killer Croc. He and Captain Cold were standing at the far side of the room, watching to other two work.
“Tell me about it,” Cold sighed. “You’re lucky you were able to get rid of yours.”
“Yeah, I’ll have to send Nightwing a nice gift,” Boomerang chuckled. “Too bad you couldn’t lose yours.”
“I would have, but then I’d have to lug that horribly heavy thing here myself,” Cold pointed out.
“True enough,” Boomerang nodded.
“If you two are finished chatting, you can come over and watch history get made,” Ivo announced.
“History, smistory. I just want my cash,” Boomerang replied.
Ivo shrugged. “Fine,” he said, calling in Miss Kendall. She walked in with two suitcases filled with cash.
“Think we could get her too as payment?” Boomerang whispered to Cold, who just elbowed him in the side in response.
“Here you go, gentlemen,” Clara said, handing them each a suitcase.
The two checked to make sure everything was there before they turned to leave. “I’d say it was a real ripper time, mate,” Boomerang said sarcastically. “Anyway I’ve got to go put another shrimp on the barbie.”
“Oh, you may what to stay here for a bit longer,” Ivo told them. “It’ll be much safer.”
“What does that mean?” Cold asked.
“Watch,” Ivo replied. He pressed a few buttons and dozens of screens around them turned on. Each one showed a different scene, many of which were police stations. “Gentlemen, today the world changes!” he announced, and pressed the button.
* * * * * * * * * *
All over the United States the same scene played out. The OMACs suddenly turned. Where once they were aiding the police, they now attacked them, causing death and destruction in their wake.
(To Be Concluded)[/I]
