"And?
Did you discover something?" Susan asked the black giant man in front of
her. She tried not to be intimidated by the dark charisma but that was not so
easy. She knew why so many people feared this man.
"Yes"
he just said and walked towards the door only to run against an invisible wall.
"This
may work for your people in Gotham, but this is about MY BROTHER! And that
means you won't get out of here until I know exactly what's going on,"
Susan hissed angrily. Ben and Reed went aside and knew the state Susan was in
right now. She would do anything to protect her brother. And if Susan was in
such a mood, it was better to get out of her way.
Batman
slowly turned around and looked at the scientist. His gaze rested cold and
calculating on her before he began to speak. "I still have an appointment
in Gotham today so I'll make this short. The data was transferred from this
computer." He pointed to one of the terminals in the entrance lobby.
"But Johnny is too stup..." at the last moment he noticed the angry
expression on Susan's face and corrected his choice of words. "too
immature to have done that!"
"HA!
So he is innocent" grinned Susan in his direction. "I said it all the
time!"
But it
didn't take long until she noticed that Batman didn't smile. Okay, he never
did. But the facial expression was not soothing.
"That's
what it signifies. And it means someone else loaded the data onto the stick. In
these rooms. That's all I can say. And now I will go. The Data was stolen from
this Building." He said in a dark voice and walked towards the door. This
time Susan didn't stop him.
As soon as
he left the room, the three freed Johnny from the interrogation cell. They
informed him of everything Batman had learned. And so the three soon sat in the
living room talking about what Batman had found out.
"What
do you think? Is he right," Johnny asked uncertainly. "I mean about
what should have happened here?"
"I
checked his investigation with Johnny. And I asked Herbie to double and triple
check everything. And when he was finished I checked it again myself. He
doesn't have his reputation for nothing. He discovered things that even I
wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't known exactly what to look for. Yes. The data
was stolen from us. Right in front of us. Then they were thrown under
Johnny."
"Is
that supposed to mean that the matchstick here is innocent and one of us 3 is
guilty?" Ben asked grimly.
"Not
necessarily no, even though he's probably keeping an eye on this case. However,
I notice that it just happened on this computer. Directly in the entrance
area."
"So it
could have been one of the guests" Susan asked and then looked at Johnny.
"Johnny! I want to know exactly how many women you brought here in the
last month."
"Why
do you think it was one of my girlfriends?" Johnny said outraged.
"Because
you got caught with one of your girlfriends. That's why." Grinned Ben wide
and Johnny wrote a long list grumbling and Ben looked astonished over his
shoulder. "Johnny! The one from last month only!"
"Yes I
know! It was a bad month" Johnny sighed and presented a list of 34 names
and Reed looked questioning.
"How
do you manage to bring 34 women here in 30 days?"
"Well...
so the weekends were very pleasant and well... once upon a time there was a
couple of twins." He said shoulder twitching.
"Susan.
We must also reckon with the fact that it could have been one of our visitors.
Can you make a list of all visitors and check them out?"
"Honey.
We're talking about loyal customers here! Do you really think one of them could
have betrayed us?"
"Don't
forget what's going on at SHIELD right now. We have to assume that spies from
HYDRA are also in this building. And that means we might have been
infiltrated."
"I
don't like all this, Reed. I have a really bad feeling about this. Something
big is brewing." Ben said for sure and Susan nodded to him.
"Ben
is right Reed. First the thing with Hydra and SHIELD, then the thing with the
attack on the JLA. Something bigger is going on and we have to find out what it
is. Or we're all going down."
"Then
we should find out," Reed said. "Everyone knows what to do."
"Uh
no. Reed. I have no idea what to do." Said Ben and Reed nodded.
"You
must examine Herbie together with me. And also every computer here."
"Understood.
But that will take forever! You have damn many computers here!"
Meanwhile
in Washington DC in the middle of the Capitol.
The
senators jumped up in shock as an Egyptian sign glowed in the middle of the
room and Dr. Fate appeared from the light symbol. With a simple gesture, the
doors and windows were fused together, making it impossible to open them again.
"Ladies
and gentlemen, elected representatives of the United States of America. I am
here to ensure that law and order remains in the hands of the people elected by
the people." Said the Justice League fighter in a resounding voice and
made another magical gesture to make sure the cameras were pointed at him.
"As I
speak to you here, all the superheroes in the world are united against a threat
of global proportions. 60 years ago, billions died fighting Nazi Germany and
its weapons department Hydra. But even if many billions died then, the war
could be won. However, it was not the end of the war but only the victory in a
single battle. While the United troops of many countries could defeat Nazi
Germany, Hydra was only driven underground. But Hydra has used the last 50 years
to spread like a plague. They infiltrated everything and everyone. They
replaced friends with enemies. But now they have finally been discovered:
Darkness must give way to light. The Justice League, the Avengers, the Teen
Titans, the X-Men, the New Avengers, the Fantastic Four and many other. They
all fight today united with SHIELD against an enemy in our own ranks. That's
why I'm here."
Slowly and
significantly, he reached into another light symbol and pulled out the lasso
from Wonder Woman. The senators looked at him in astonishment and calm. The
initial turmoil had subsided and everyone listened to him now knowing that
something important was about to happen. None of them had known what was going
to happen today. No one in the Senate knew about the action and even the Hydra
agents were unaware of what was happening but felt that something terrible had
happened.
"This
is a loan from Princess Diana, Crown Princess of the Amazons. It is the lasso
of truth. Well, at least in this day and age. No being that walks in this world
can escape its power. No mortal is immune to his power. I will now extend the
power of this spell to this room. Those who lie to you... those who impersonate
something they are not... now have one last chance to reveal themselves. For it
is their destiny to come to light today."
Seriously
he lifted the lasso into the air and said the words:
"Et
hinc est, quod virtus est magna potestas, et auxilium tuum imploramus, ut
reveles ignominiam tuam benedictionem illud quod absconditum est a nobis. Lata
et ostende nobis lucem ac verum quod ante atrium." Et
hinc est, quod virtus est magna potestas, et
auxilium tuum imploramus, ut reveles ignominiam tuam benedictionem illud quod
absconditum est a nobis. Lata et ostende nobis lucem ac verum quod ante
atrium."
The lasso
of Wonder Woman glowed brightly after these words before it stretched out as if
by magic around the whole room. Slowly Fate went from one senator to the next
and always asked them the same question. Some resisted, some surrendered, most
were pure guilt. But on all the television pictures you could see over 20
senators admitting to serving Hydra loyally. They were immediately arrested or
overwhelmed by Fate. Those who wanted to defend themselves against the masked
hero felt all his anger and all his power. Finally, the night of the long
knives could end. Hydra´s Plan was destroyed.