"The Olympics of Crime"
“They’re coming,” the man in glasses said. “Excellent,” Syonide replied. She smirked and turned to the assembled villains. “You know what to do.” She quickly left the room. The villains waited. Above Lake Placid, Blue Beetle’s Bug was rapidly approaching their destination. Inside, J’onn J’onzz was studying readouts beside Beetle. “Doesn’t look like there are any hostages,” Beetle noted. J’onn nodded. “My own powers are somehow being blocked,” he said. “However, your assumption makes sense. It also tells us we only face six foes.” Booster Gold leaned forward over the seats. “Six of them and eight of us. Doesn’t sound like bad odds.” Beetle smiled. “Remembering the old days when you were fighting the 1,000?” Booster shivered. “Don’t remind me. Do you know what the odds were back then?” “1,000 to one?” Beetle asked. “Yeah!” Booster said. “That wasn’t fair at all.” “Gentlemen,” J’onn interrupted. “May we focus on the terrorists down below?” Mister Miracle walked up. “J’onn, if you’d like me to run some reconnaissance…” “Please,” J’onn said. Miracle pulled out his aero-discs, stepped to the hatch and was gone. Below, Syonide smiled as her monitor showed Miracle flying soundlessly over the arena, trying in vain to get a view inside. “Now,” she said quietly. Far above, Beetle let out a cry as Miracle was suddenly enveloped in a ball of fire. “Guy!” J’onn yelled. “I’m gone,” Guy said as he dropped out of the Bug’s hatch. His ring began flying him toward his falling teammate and he battled against the rage he could already feel filling his mind. In the Bug, Barda shoved past J’onn toward the hatch. “If my husband is hurt, someone will pay!” she declared as she began flying toward Miracle on aero-discs of her own. “So much for the element of surprise,” Booster mused as Beetle already began angling the Bug toward the arena. “Nice to see that things haven’t changed much over the years,” Beetle added. At J’onn’s orders, Booster and Fire flew out the hatch as well while Troia carried Ice to the ground. “Keep in contact,” J’onn ordered Beetle before following the rest of the team out of the ship. “No problem,” Beetle said. As the team descended, they were suddenly attacked by a flurry of darts. The darts buried themselves into the Leaguers, knocking them unconscious and sending them plummeting to the ground, where they were plucked from the air by one of their opponents. Syonide smiled. “My part’s finished,” she said as she headed toward a small car and prepared to drive away. “You know what to do from here.” Booster’s eyes fluttered open and he looked around the room. “Man, captured again?” he asked. “What’s up with this? We part of the JLA or something?” “I see you are awake,” a woman said as she stepped forward. “I am Nox, part of the New Olympians.” She smiled. “Welcome to our games.” She gestured and the lights in the stadium came on as the other New Olympians stepped forward. “You will compete against us in one-on-one contests. If you win, we are defeated. If we win, you die.” She motioned toward a large, hulking man who smirked. “This is Antaeus. He possesses super-strength and invulnerability. His opponent will be Big Barda.” A woman carrying a bow was next. “This is Diana. She is a skilled huntress. Her opponent will be Troia.” Third was a man with pale skin. “Vulcanus. His power is the control of fire. He will be facing Fire.” A man with reddish skin and a green costume was next. “Proteus, the shapeshifter. He will battle Ice.” A slight man stepped forward. He wore a business suit. “Argus, the telepath. He will battle Booster Gold.” She smiled and gestured to herself. “My power is over the night and I shall battle Guy Gardner.” She motioned to a clock. “Your other members, the Martian Manhunter and Mister Miracle, have been sedated and will remain so until the contests have completed. You have fifteen minutes to prepare yourselves.” The New Olympians left the League to puzzle out a strategy without their leader. At the end of the fifteen minutes, the Leaguers dispersed throughout the arena to battle their opponents. Troia found herself standing across an archery range from Diana. “What are we doing?” Troia asked. “Trying to see who can hit a bull’s-eye?” Diana smiled. “Nothing so simple,” she replied. She held up an arrow. “These are modified using some of Green Arrow’s equipment. I believe he’d call these `taser-arrows’. First one to drop loses.” As she finished speaking, Diana notched the arrow and let it fly at Troia, who snatched up her bow and fired. Her arrow caught the first and knocked it off course, where both arrows thudded harmlessly into the ground. Diana’s smile widened. “An excellent strategy,” she complimented. “Or it would be if I didn’t have one more arrow than you do.” She notched a second arrow. “Care to try again?” Across the room, Mister Miracle seemed to move slightly. Argus twitched as he faced Booster Gold. “Something is wrong.” Argus said. Booster grinned as he trapped Argus in a force field. “You got that right,” Booster said. “Something was wrong when a bunch of losers like you decided to take on the Justice League.” Argus pounded against the sphere as his air grew thin. Finally he collapsed into unconsciousness and Booster opened the shield. Across the room, Vulcanus was clearly winning his battle with Fire. He kept seizing control of her flame form, preventing her from causing him any harm. He chuckled as Fire flew above his range, obviously trying to figure some way that her powers could hurt him. He gasped as Fire suddenly extinguished herself and plummeted toward him. Before he could react, she landed on top of him. A kick from Fire to his jaw put him out. Throughout the arena, the League was defeating their Olympian foes. Ice trapped Proteus in a block of ice, freezing him solid. Nox found herself helpless as Guy created a spotlight with his ring, depleting her of her powers. A trick shot using an arrow as a distraction allowed Troia to cross the battleground and knock Diana unconscious. As Nox collapsed, Guy quickly used his ring to contain the Olympians. “How?” Nox weakly asked. “How could you defeat us so easily?” “Simple,” a voice from behind said. Mister Miracle stepped forward, helping the Martian Manhunter stand. “I’m not just called the World’s Greatest Escape Artist because it makes good posters. I was loose almost before you finished making your matchups. After that I freed J’onn and he reestablished a telepathic link between us Leaguers and Blue Beetle, who was able to research your weaknesses and feed us the information on how to defeat you.” Miracle stopped and looked around. “Has anyone seen Barda?” he asked. As if on cue, Antaeus’s unconscious form crashed through the ceiling and thudded into the floor. Barda flew on her aero-discs into the room a moment later with a smile on her face. “Beetle was right,” she said. “Antaeus weakens when he’s separated from the earth.” Guy’s ring quickly imprisoned Antaeus as Barda embraced her husband. “Did I miss anything?” she asked. “Nothing at all,” Miracle replied. He looked up as his League signaler beeped. “I’m using this to take some strain off J’onn,” Blue Beetle said. “That is much appreciated,” the Manhunter said. “I’ve called the police and they’re on their way. We should be out of here shortly.” The Leaguers smiled as the Olympians scowled at them in defeat. Meanwhile, back at the League’s embassy, the building was darkened. Suddenly a blue light filled Maxwell Lord’s office as his computer switched itself on. The screen began displaying text that was typing itself. “Hello, Maxaxax,” it said. “Did you miss me?” To Be Continued... Next Issue: Maxwell Lord faces the ghosts of his past as he is forced to battle the creature that created him! And the League isn’t at stake this time, but his own soul may be! Previous Issue | Next Issue |
