My life outside the Mythical World

Eminent Threat

The place was mostly abandoned, with not a single soul in sight. The only sounds he heard were from the distance, so Dick hid behind a crate and send the bug to eavesdrop while he monitored with his contacts.

Through the bug's vision, he saw Vertigo and several of his men loading up a shipment of pods filled with teens and kids. Realizing the seriousness of this situation, Dick quickly shared the video with the rest of his team.

"Receiving video," Percy's voice sounded in his ear.

"Nightwing, stop this before they finish loading those kids," said Black Lightning urgently, but Dick disagree.

"Negative, those pods aren't going anywhere fast on rails." He sneaked off to the side and cracked open a locked door and sneaked in. "I need to locate SB and the Prince first."

"Activate the spy gear we planted, might help you find him," suggested BL.

"Might. If they weren't in a thousand pieces," noted Dick, seeking a plate full of smashed bits of the spy gear sitting on a table. Fearing the worst, he broke out into a jog, finding another room with glass windows and people inside it. "Got eyes on Ecks and...huh, Dr. Helga Jace..."

Sure enough, there in the room, standing between two pods (one containing an unconscious Connor), were the doctors, seemingly responsible for this whole mess. Dick glanced between the two pods, describing what he saw to his teammates. "They've got SB. Unconscious. In a pod."

"Oh, he is not gonna like that," Commented Percy.

"Nope," Agreed Dick, noticing that the other pod, filled with tar a second before, began to drain out, revealing the Prince of Markovia. "Brion is in the next pod over. I think they tried to make him meta-active."

"We are arriving now," Jeff broke in.

"Good, then I'm going in." Just as he said that another door inside creaked open and Vertigo entered the scene.

"What is going on here?!" Questioned the Ex-Count.

"We're ready to move in," Artemis said in his earpiece.

"Hold up," Dick stopped them quickly, bending down so he could spy on the scene inside while keeping himself hidden. "Something is happening." He blinked twice and his contacts changed color, transporting his point of view so the rest could see.

"Explain yourselves!" demanded Vertigo.

"Count Vertigo," stuttered Eck, "W-we..."

"I've just spoken with His Highness, and he gave no orders for the podding and tarring of the Prince of the Realm!" He grabbed Eck's collar and growled.

"His Highness?" questioned Dick quietly. "Gregor?"

"That can't be it," Percy said. "That man doesn't look like he could pull off such a thing, not to mention to his own brother."

"I want answers, now!" yelled Vertigo, throwing aside Ecks, who turned and pointed an angry finger at Dr. Jace.

"You LIED to me!" He shouted, "You said this was all done by the boss's command!"

"I had to!" explained Dr. Jace. "His so-called 'Highness' is out of control! The things he had made us do...But now we have someone with the power to stop him! To stop Bedlam!"

Vertigo didn't look happy, his face darker than ever. "You ignorant peasant..." He growled and pressed the device on the side of his head as a wave of nausea swept over Helga Jace. She cried in agony and fell to the floor. "The plan set in motion here far exceeds your shortsighted morality. To get to what I need, I will deliver control of Markovia to him! And you will do nothing to interfere!"