Hello there,
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To the attention of the readers who enjoy reading an intelligent main character like Miles will definitely like my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Gotham
"Alright, you made your point. Now, what's this about a dictator?" Plastic Man asked. He had gone through the construction sites in the Crime Alley and saw that Miles was actually doing good work.
"Mustapha Maksai staged a coup and executed his half-brother, Richard Jiwe, the elected president. We are going to arrest him, neutralize his forces, and leave him to justice. Zambesia will be freed, the first step in stabilizing Africa."
O'Brian whistled. "That sounds big. Really big."
"It is. Scared?" he asked. Plastic Man may not take a lot of things seriously, but toppling a dictatorial regime was one.
"Me?" O'Brian's head grew to ridiculous proportions. "Absolutely not. I just don't think Batman will be happy if I suddenly start helping take down foreign governments."
Batman kept an eye on Plastic Man, both because he felt responsible and because of how dangerous he was.
"If all you need is his permission, I can call him," he said, pulling out his phone to call Batman.
"As if. We just have to be quiet, that's all."
Miles put the phone back in his pocket. People rarely took pleasure in requiring another individual's permission.
"Zimbase is poor thanks to Maksai. There will be no digital records of you. We also give you a bit of a makeover, and you are just another person that has elasticity as a superpower," he said. Claire handed over a black-colored suit to O'Brian.
Plausible deniability was a wonderful notion.
—
New York City
"You have teleportation?! Man, that's awesome," O'Brian said. The hero did not need much in the way of preparation. Officially, he needed some alone time. With the wonders of teleportation, he would be back in Gotham in no time.
"Can I rely on your discretion on this matter?" he asked.
"Don't worry," O'Brian said, turning his lips to a zipper and pulling it shut.
He turned to the shadows. "Now, we have one more companion to take with us."
He didn't have the sharp senses necessary to detect an individual like Vixen. But his new gear bypassed that necessity.
Mari stepped out of the shadows, tilting her head at the new, and rather vibrant, addition. "Who is this?"
The figure was somewhat familiar. Perhaps she had seen him on TV but couldn't remember more.
"Plastic Man, he is a local hero from Gotham and an acquaintance of Batman."
"Your infiltration expert?"
Plastic Man smirked. His body contorted, settling into the shape of a handbag, a chair, and a door, and finally, merged with the floor itself.
"Alright. I can see how that becomes handy," she said. No one would suspect a common household object to be an infiltrator in disguise.
"Is it just the five of us?" Taking Maksai down wouldn't magically free Zambesia after all.
"We will deal with Maksai and his inner circle. I made arrangements to take down the armed forces."
A small force of androids was already on site, waiting. Zambesia's armed forces were akin to thugs with machine guns.
—
Zambesia
D'Mulla
"You can teleport?" she asked. It took her a couple of seconds to get her bearings once the location had changed so abruptly.
"Yes. Welcome back to Zambesia," he said, holding out a hand towards the downtrodden city.
Vixen hung her head. "It looks worse than I remember." Her memories of Zambesia were brighter. Now, everything looked gray and depressing.
"I doubt Maksai ever cared to improve anything except his own comfort."
The mention of her uncle broke Vixen out of her musings. "Where is he now?"
His head tilted at the tallest building in sight. "Hotel Continental. It used to serve high-value investors in the past. While Maksai is mobile most of the time, he enjoys the amenities enough to make regular returns."
Locating Maksai proved to be easier than initially assumed. The hotel was one of the few places in the capital with proper utilities and was heavily defended. A creature of comfort like Mustapha Maksai was bound to be there.
Satellite imagery had confirmed as much.
"My time to shine," Plastic Man said, stretching his arms and legs before twisting his torso.
"He is on the top floor now."
O'Brian flashed a giant thumbs up and left to carry out his mission.
"Can we really trust that guy? He doesn't seem to take anything seriously," Claire asked after the man was out of earshot.
"It's a mask. Just enjoy the show."
There was a reason Batman saw Plastic Man as one of the more dangerous heroes should he go full villain.
—
He slipped through the gaps in the barbed wire surrounding the hotel. In the dark of the night, his new, deep black-colored costume made him appear like a shadow. The soldiers guarding the perimeter did not seem interested in their jobs. He could have just strolled to the hotel, but this was actually serious.
Squeezing inside the drainpipe, he wiggled upwards to the roof. He came out with the other hand and stretched his torso down to the window. Maksai was inside, sprawled on a queen-sized bed.
Eel forced his fingers beneath the window and pushed it up. Slithering up to the bed, he flicked Maksai on the nose. The dictator twitched but did not wake up.
"Wakey, wakey," a voice sang.
"Huh, what?" Maksai muttered, waking up. He went back into the la-la-la land with a punch.
He stretched his body, wrapping around the man like a cocoon. Climbing out the way he came, Eel reached the roof again.
Extending his arms on each corner of the roof, he walked to the other hand. He slingshotted himself to where his friends were waiting.
The guards were unaware of anything.
—
"Make way for delivery," O'Brian's voice came from the night sky. He had stretched into a parachute, gently floating down with Maksai.
Claire raised her hands with open palms. She didn't doubt Miles, but it was hard to take this guy seriously. Until now, at least.
Vixen was bristling. The bastard that had killed her father lay defenseless in front of her. For all the hot, blinding fury coursing in her veins, she didn't know what to do.
"Ta da, one dictator delivered as promised. Sign here, please," O'Brian said, holding out his fist.
Miles was all too happy to oblige.
"What do we do with this guy?" Baraka asked. Africa was filled with dictators like him. He would love nothing more than to make Maksai live a sliver of the hell he had brought down on Zambesia.
"His generals are dispersed over the city. We make Maksai gather them in one place. The rest will fall in place," he said. If they didn't, the androids would ensure compliance.
The plans on handling dictators were getting a bit repetitive, but as long as they worked, there was no reason to change anything.
He glanced at Vixen. "Care to handle it? I wager he'd fear you more than any of us."
Vixen closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She did not want to do anything rash. Opening her eyes, she nodded.
Baraka dumped a bucket of cold water on Mustapha. The unconscious man was jolted awake, searching for a pistol on his belt.
His purple silk robe did not afford any.
"You," Maksai said, his voice trembling, just like his body.
He had hunted her and the Tantu Totem for years. He had killed her father. And now, he was at her mercy.
"Yes, me," Vixen growled deeply. She looked like a tiger ready to pounce and tear her prey to ribbons.
"You are going to summon all your generals and other high-ranking staff members."
"Why would I do that?"
Vixen touched her talisman. She must have chosen a rather large animal, because when she stomped the ground next to Maksai's feet, the ground caved.
Mustapha pulled his leg away, eyes wide open.
"Otherwise I will do that to you," she warned.
Miles threw a walkie-talkie to Mustapha. The general took it with shaking hands.
"One wrong word, uncle, and you will beg for mercy." Her threat seems to have done the job.
"This is General Mustapha. Summon all my staff for an emergency meeting right now," he ordered.
The response was quick. "As you command, general."
Vixen took another deep breath. Miles knew she would have killed him if the confrontation had been violent.
"You are a despicable waste of a human. My father was a good man; he only wanted the best for Zambesia. But you were a jealous piece of crap, and look where it led you," she said, letting out the hatred in her heart. Killing him was not worth betraying who she was.
Not that he had a problem with Mari killing Maksai.
"Will you kill me?" the cowardly man asked. Miles half expected him to beg.
"No. We are going to let the people of Zambesia decide your fate. You will be lucky if they stick you in a four-by-four hole for the rest of your life."
With those words, Vixen reverse kicked Mustafa back into unconsciousness.
"Hey, are you alright?" Plastic Man asked. His jubilant tone had given way to a somber one.
"I will be, as soon as we free Zambesia."
—
Hotel Continental
Next Morning
"Where is the general?"
"He is late. We will have to wait."
The chatter among the staff was interrupted when the door flew off its hinges. It slammed into a colonel, rendering him unconscious.
A woman dressed in an orange suit stepped inside, cracking her knuckles. "Don't worry, guys, we'll keep you company."
Bringing weapons to a meeting with General Mustapha was forbidden. They were unarmed, but so was this attacker. A colonel raised his chair, ready to throw it. Something reached down from the ceiling and caught it.
It swung the chair back into the colonel's face.
"Geez, didn't you guys learn any table manners?" A voice mocked them from above. The ceiling melted to the ground like wax, taking the shape of a man.
Two more people entered the room, covered in armor from head to toe. The female set her hands on fire, and the male glowed like a Christmas tree.
"I remember you. You are Richard's daughter, aren't you? Back for revenge?" One of the prisoners, a general with one too many medals pinned to his chest, spoke.
"I am back to free this country from you bastards."
"We can give you a couple of minutes with them if you want," Claire offered. In her position, she definitely would have.
"No. They aren't worth it."
Miles walked in, pushing Maksai forward. "Take a seat, general."
"The armed forces are down," he said. The androids had made quick work of the grunts. Now, there was only one objective left. "I am sure the people will appreciate it if one of their own announces Maksai's fall."
Mari took the phone.
—
The androids had placed holoprojectors across the city. The people, going on with their lives, stopped when the image of a woman appeared over the buildings.
"People of Zambesia, I am Mari Jiwe, daughter of the late President Richard Jiwe."
"A decade ago, my half-uncle, Mustapha Maksai, staged a coup and executed my father."
There were murmurs. Had Richard's daughter returned to free them?
"Today, his tyranny ends," she said. Her image was gone, replaced with a room where Maksai and his lapdogs were tied up.
"Maksai and his generals are arrested. I call on the people of D'Mulla to rise and take the presidential palace. To take our freedom back."
—
Mari's speech had the people marching on the palace, as well as administrative and military locations. Strangely, all military personnel in the bases were found tied up. Maksai's cronies in the ministries had to run. Those that did not met the fury of the people breaking the shackles.
This event would come to be known as the One Day Revolution.
"What do we do now? " Baraka asked. He might not be from Zambesia, but damn if it didn't feel personal to him.
"I have already prepared an aid and an investment package. A former minister in exile, Adam Kambale, is already returning to swear in as the interim president," he said, bringing out the man's picture.
He was one of the first ones to receive an anonymous message revealing the downfall of Maksai. Zambesia didn't have many connections to the rest of the world, so it would take a while for word to travel.
He would be long gone by then.
"My father always spoke highly of him," Mari said. Her father did not even have a proper burial. She would first search his remains and dig a grave for him. That is, if there was anything to find.
"Do you want to return with us or would you like to stay for a while?" he asked. She was bound to have some personal issues to handle here.
"I think I'll stay, just to be sure everything works out well."
Miles pointed at an android, then at Vixen. "I'll leave an android with you. When you want to leave, give me a call," he said, handing out a brand new phone to her.
"Thanks for everything," she said, taking the phone.
"Don't mention it."
—
Gotham
"Can't believe we freed a country in less than a day," O'Brian said. He had teleported the group to an alley with no cameras.
He smiled. "How does it feel? To save an entire nation from tyranny?"
"Good, real good," he replied, looking at the setting sun.
"Here. I know you are capable, but in case you ever need help, give me a call," he said, handing another phone out. His connection with local heroes would help in the future when the League expanded its roster.
"Thanks. And again, I won't tell Batman about this little adventure."
"I don't think he will ever ask," Miles said. Bruce was already swamped with work. He wouldn't have many reasons to investigate the events in Zambesia.
—
Metropolis
Once he was back home, Miles took everyone out for dinner. The sun was slowly setting down, and they deserved a treat after Zambesia.
It was going great. The place was fancy, the food was delicious, and the waiter was unnaturally beautiful. In itself, he would only question why she was working here rather than try her hand at modeling. If he was in a particularly relaxed mood, that is.
What set her apart was her similarity to an individual he knew.
Blonde hair, blue eyes, taller than him, she had the eyes of every male in the room, including him. Though, it was for a different reason.
His watch scanned her discreetly, and his suspicion was confirmed. She wasn't a human.
Taking out a piece of paper, he wrote down his number along with a question for her. If she didn't read it, he would contact her in a different manner.
He had an inkling of her identity, but for now, waiting was the preferable choice.
This was bound to be interesting.
—
In the next chapter:
"Oh, my head," Audrey groaned as she entered her room.
A glass of cold water was held out to her. "Here, the water will clear your head up a bit."
Watching the young man who held out the water, she then turned to the one in the fedora hat, sitting on her chair. "Thank you."
She took the glass, drinking it slowly. She sat down as the headache subsided slightly.
"How can I help you?" she asked.
The man, the leader, took his hat off. "You are awfully calm for someone who found three intruders in her room."
Audrey raised her shoulders and dropped them. "You are not Northerners, and this isn't the first time someone wanted to speak in private." Though it was the first time they did it in her room.
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