I couldn’t believe the mess that was made. The entire lab was in utter chaos. My men were still in the lab gathering evidence. The frozen guard had been taken away days ago. Nothing was left but the samples of the meteorites and the caged mice. I had Emil, Frederick and some guards in the lab with me. I turned to one of the guards and said, “Could this have been the handy work of Victor and his men.”
“Victor?” asked a guard.
“Yeah, you know, that nut from Gotham,” I said.
“Oh, you must mean the man they call Mr. Freeze. Are you asking because they wheeled out the human ice sculpture?” asked the other guard.
“No. I’m asking cause it’s a bit too cold in here. Of course because the man’s an ice cube! Who else could have done something like that?”
“It was definitely someone else, Mr. Luthor. From what I hear is that Dr. Fries is still up at Arkham,” said Emil. “Why do you think he would be interested in your lab?”
“Could be due to the fact that word got out about certain alien crystals I have collected. And maybe he thought one could be used as an addition to his diamond demand.”
“Now who else knows about the rocks and the crystals besides us?” asked Emil.
“That’s exactly what I’d like to know Professor,” I said indirectly accusing him. “There were only a handful of people who had privileged information about the on goings in this lab.”
‘Mr. Luthor, if you are insinuating that I…”
“Can it Professor. You’re done! You’re out!” I shouted as I pointed to the door. “What, you didn’t think I would find out about your application to S.T.A.R. Labs? Hand in your I.D. card along with your clumsy assistant’s. But leave all your paperwork behind. It’s property of LuthorCorp now.”
Emil walked out without saying a word. “You want me to make sure Emil doesn’t make any stops on the way out the door, Mr. Luthor?” Frederick asked after Emil left our presence.
“That won’t be necessary. That’s been taken care of already.” I took another look around the dilapidated laboratory. Everything was in complete disarray. “You know something Frederick? Something has to be done about these people.”
“What people are you referring to, Mr. Luthor?”
“These people with abilities that are way out of their league. Abilities that are beyond human limits.” I continued as my mind searched for the right word that defined the mutants. “These…these… Metahumans.”
“Metahumas, sir?” Frederick asked puzzled.
“Yes exactly. Like Freeze, and this Poison Ivy and the others they got up in Gotham. And not just the criminals either. Oh, no, this man in a bat suit as well. He thinks he’s doing the people up in Gotham some good. A disservice is what I call it! Putting the law into his own hands. Who does he think he is?”
“Mr. Luthor, what is it that you are suggesting?” Frederick asked as he saw his boss’ eyes getting redder and what appeared to be a monologue from him rather than a two way conversation.
My eyes went back to Frederick, “A round up! I want to round up all these so called Metahumans and banish them from our planet. They are a threat. The biggest threat ever to hit our nation.”
“Gathering these Metahumans is not going to be an easy task.”
“No, it won’t be easy. But I know just the man or I should say woman for the job. Frederick, I want you to go inform Molina and Fu of their new assignments. Have Molina get the whereabouts of a Dr. Amanda Waller and find out what she is currently doing. Have Fu track down a Dr. Dabney Donovan. Now, Waller will most likely be found in Langley or D.C. Fu can get Donovan’s last known address from the records at Belle Reeve.”
“Belle Reeve!” Frederick said amazed.
“Don’t sound so surprised. Most geniuses are just mere eccentric loons.”
“And when I’m done sir?”
“When you’re done, I want you to personally lead the investigation of this break in. Find out who was dumb enough to steal from Lex Luthor. Then bring him to me.”
_______________________________________________________________________
Getting lost since Route 84, Fu was frustrated with his GPS. He stopped and asked for directions a few times but just couldn’t follow the Cajun dialect. He thought to himself that he should have purchased the plane ticket and flew down here, but his pride got in the way of the federal regulation that states a person of his size has to buy two seats on a plane. He was also upset on how Molina won the coin toss to take LuthorCorp’s private jet.
Hours later he arrived at his destination, and Fu exited the car that was covered with mud on the lower half. Holding his brief case, he approached the gate. He noticed a badly damaged and vandalized sign on the property. The only legible words read ‘Terrebonne Parish’; however, it now appeared as ‘Terror on Parish.’ He rang the buzzer and heard through the intercom, “Belle Reeve Sanitarium, please state your name and who you’re here to see.”
“Yes ma’am, my name is Sato Fu and I’m here to see Dr. Tannen. I’m a little late for our appointment.”
After a minute, he heard again, “Please realize that by entering the gates you are agreeing to: One, enter at your own risk, Two, you will not hold Belle Reeve and all its affiliates responsible to the injuries that you might and probably will incur, Three, you acknowledge that you are solely responsible for yourself and your possessions, Four, you must not carry or have on your person any weapons or any items that can be used as a weapon; i.e. belts, razors, keys, pens, neckties, hair pins, watches, rings, eyeglasses, shoe laces, necklaces, bracelets and so forth, Five, any medication you might be carrying must be left behind, Six, all electronic devices will be left behind; i.e. cell phones, pagers, laptops, iPods, mp3 players, cameras, tape recorders and so forth, Seven, that on your way out, you will be leaving with either the same amount of people that you entered with or less amount, if you are dropping someone off. All persons who get released are escorted by Belle Reeve personnel to the other side of the gates. Do you accept the terms and conditions of which I have stated that are required to enter Belle Reeve Sanitarium?”
“Yes,” Fu said as he tried to take everything in that she quickly said.
“Very good. You will be required to sign the guest list and the consent form once you enter the building. The gate is now unlocked, please park in the visitor section and be sure to remember the rules before entering.”
Fu got back in his car and drove through the gates. He found the designated parking area and emptied the contents of his pockets and put them in the glove box. He proceeded to remove his necktie, his shoe laces, his watch and his belt. All he kept on him was his wallet. He tried to remember the rest of the list that the woman stated and sat in the car for an extra minute to think. When he thought he had everything covered he got out of the car and walked to the entrance. He was greeted at the door by two security officers who escorted him to the front desk. Inside Fu signed a two page consent form. He was then moved to a waiting room past the patients and prisoners that were free to roam about. Cautiously waiting, he was approached by one of the security guards who brought along two other people behind him. The guard pointed to one of the gentlemen and informed Fu that he was Dr. Tannen. Dr. Tannen continued to talk with the other person before addressing Fu. “Sorry Mr. Fu, I’ll be right with you. I’m just finishing up with my lawyer.”
“Oh, no problem,” said Fu.
After a few moments, Fu heard Dr. Tannen saying goodbye to his lawyer, “O.k. Harvey, I’ll talk to you later. Thanks for stopping by.”
“Sure thing Chris, stop by the firm to fill out the documents.” He looked over at Fu and said, “Have a good day, Mr. Fu was it?”
“Yes. You too, ahh.”
He then went immediately over and shook Fu’s hand and said, “The name’s Harvey.” Looking over to Dr. Tannen he joked, “But its Counselor Dent to this screwball doctor over here.” Dr. Tannen gave Harvey a quick smile, and Harvey nodded then left the two alone.
“So, Mr. Fu, would you care to step in my office? I’m sure you didn’t come all this way for a five minute conversation.”
“That would be…” Fu started.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt. But Chris, would you have some change on you? I wanted to grab some chips out of the vending machine, but I’m a bit short.”
“Sorry Harvey, but I don’t”
Fu interjected, “Wait, I might have some. I was over in Okinawa awhile back, and I found some interesting meteorites. Some friends and I were just goofin around, and we were seeing how hard these rocks were. I pulled out some coins and started scratchin them with one of these rocks.” Fu placed a hand in his pocket to look for the change. “I kept a few as a souvenir.” Fu pulled a quarter out and continued, “This one’s defaced on one side, but it should still work.”
“Defaced hey? You just broke section 18 U.S.C. 331. Defacing US currency. That comes with a maximum punishment of a $2,000 fine. But I guess I can let you go since I’m starving,” Harvey joked.
“Harvey, you and that law degree were made for each other. I can see you being Governor of Louisiana some day,” said Dr. Tannen.
“I’ll settle for the D.A.’s office. Anyway, thanks for the change. I’ll leave you two alone now.” Harvey left as he admired the defaced coin and then realized that both sides had an image of the president’s face.
Dr. Tannen and Fu continued to walk past the patients on their way to his office. Inside, Dr. Tannen offered a seat to Fu and then closed the door for some privacy. “Well then, I received a very important call from Mr. Luthor stating that he would like the whereabouts of a former patient.”
“Yes, that’s correct. A Mr. Dabney Donovan.”
“Oh yes, I remember Dr. Donovan. Strange fellow he was. We couldn’t force him to stay because he was self-committed. But Mr. Fu, those records are kept private. They are not public records at all.”
Fu placed his briefcase on his lap and opened it. Inside was a single piece of paper. He withdrew the contents and placed it on the desk in front of Dr. Tannen. Dr. Tannen looked down and realized it was blank check signed and dated by Alexander Luthor, CEO of LuthorCorp. “Dr. Tannen, I was given specific instructions about payment for this information. Yes, this is a blank check. And Mr. Luthor asks you to name your price; however, I was also given a number. If you get greedy and exceed this number then I am to put the check back in my case and bribe another employee. We are not here to play tit for tat doctor. You have one chance and one chance only to name your price. The time is now yours.”
Fu noticed beads of sweat appearing on this ‘screwball doctor’s’ forehead. Tannen didn’t want to say a small figure, yet he only knew he had one chance to get it right. In his own head he was perplexed with making himself rich or making himself even more comfortable? Tannen then got a pen and started to write on a small post-it. He said, “You do realize that I can lose my medical license for doing this. I mention this only because this number reflects what I should get if this indeed happens.” Without a response or the slightest emotion of care coming from Fu, he then nervously folded and slid the post-it across the desk. Without removing his eyes off the doctor’s, Fu casually picked up the post-it and unfolded it. His eyes then went to read the numbers that were written down. Fu then crumbled up the tiny paper in his very large hand and reached for the check. He began to write on the check, and when he was finished, he showed the face of the check to Dr. Tannen.
Tannen was relieved to know that it was the same number he had wrote on the post-it and began to smile. “Congratulations Dr. Tannen. You now have seven hundred and fifty thousand reasons to take a nice long vacation.” Dr. Tannen bent forward to receive his payment. “Umm. I’m going to need the document before I give you this.”
“Right of course. Let me just go to the records room. I’ll only be a few minutes.” Dr. Tannen left Fu alone in his office while he went to get Donovan’s information. Fu was beginning to think how easy this was, not to mention all the fun he was having throwing around Luthor’s money for bribery and blackmail. And just like that, Dr. Tannen returned. “I believe this is what you were looking for; the last known address. I even threw in the list of phone numbers that he called during his stay.”
“Mr. Luthor will be very pleased I’m sure. Thank you for your time doctor.” Fu stood up and shook Tannen’s hand.
“Just out of curiosity, what was the top dollar amount?”
“Doctor Tannen, it is not Mr. Luthor’s primary objective to satisfy other people’s curiosity. Have a good day.”
_______________________________________________________________________
Somewhere in an abandoned building on the outskirts of District of Columbia was where the diabolical scheme to unite two corrupt affiliations began. It all started with “the Wall,” the Wall’s henchmen, Molina and my money.
“So, how many members does this…Death Squad have?” asked Molina.
“Right now we have five on the payroll. And the name’s Suicide Squad,” said Waller. “I have a thing for alliteration.” Waller was a hefty size woman. She was a mean African-American woman on the government’s payroll. She got the nick name ‘Wall” because of her toughness, but some believe it was due to her ungenerously proportioned figure.
“Well, Mr. Luthor has a thing for Greek mythology and has christened his project with the name Cadmus,” said Molina.
“Project Cadmus. It has a nice ring to it. Does Mr. Luthor realize that he wants to imprison these…what did you say he called them, Metahumans by using other Metahumans? What irony.”
“Mr. Luthor’s report that I handed you explains everything, right down to the finest detail of implanting a device in the Metahumans that are working with Project Cadmus.”
“I don’t know if my members will go for it, but let me read through the report and see all the details Mr. Luthor has. But more importantly, I’d like to know what my exact position would be. Did he happen to inform you of that?”
“Mr. Luthor is willing to give you complete control over Project Cadmus just as long as you keep him informed. He expects a weekly report.”
“That can be arranged.”
“He does, however, have only one condition.”
“And what might that be.”
“He wants Dr. Victor Fries on the top of the list for you to go hunt down.”
“You must mean Mr. Freeze from Gotham, the nut job who likes to play with ice.”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem given how Poison Ivy is on the Suicide Squad as well. She’s my personal escort up in Gotham. We’re up there trying to get this vigilante who dresses up as a bat. He thinks he’s doing some good.”
“He dresses up as a bat” Molina asked?
And with a grin, Waller said, “And goes by the name of Batman.”
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