Interlude: Events Unfolding Elsewhere

In a Bar in Dhabar, Daiyu sat fuming, as she had been doing ever since she had been forced to shed her true surname of Sima Daiyu and become Wuming Daiyu. All because of a low-class, halfbreed, interloper who never should have been allowed to compete in their sacred tournaments to begin with. She had once been the Princess of the Most Powerful Cultivation Family on the face of the Earth, now she was reduced to this, taking work as a common mercenary in order to get by.

Her latest assignment had been to aid Mullah Arghulian in the overthrow of the Grand Rahfi, an easy enough job, given the Rahfi was a mere boy who was off in America at a boarding school. The most that Daiyu needed to deal with was helping to defeat the Rahfi's Army and chastise one of the Mullah's own men who had sought to throw discipline to the four winds and attempted to force himself on one of the Maids of the Rahfi's Palace.

Now, Daiyu sat at a tavern in the foreign quarter of the Capital of Dhabar City, pondering what to do next. The Mullah had paid her more than enough money to last her for months, largely taken from the now Ex-Rahfi's own accounts. Perhaps, with those funds, Daiyu could indulge herself in a bit of vengeance? It was a thought, at least.

"A message for you Sahiba." Came a voice from off to Daiyu's right.

She turned to see a darker-skinned Nepali Waitress holding a slip of paper toward her. Daiyu frowned at that. She wasn't expecting any messages. Why would this come to her now? It was suspicious, and Daiyu had to know more if she was going to accept it.

"Who is it from? I am expecting no messages." She questioned.

"I do not know Sahiba, I only do as I am paid to do." Admitted the Woman.

Intrigued, Daiyu snatched the paper out of the Woman's hands and began to read. Whoever it was who had sent this message had clearly done their homework. They knew about her history with the. . .Interloper. Apparently, if she wanted a decent chance at revenge, she should come to the Galaxy Communications Telecom Equipment Warehouse on the shores of the Wular Lake at midnight three days from now.

On the one hand, this was most likely a trap. On the other, it was not as if Daiyu could not escape such a trap. After all, she was no longer the mere Disciple she had been when she had been cast out, but a Master of Cultivation in her own right, thanks to hard work and a lucky break involving one of her jobs allowing her to liberate a dragon pearl from a collector in Singapore after a being hired to help the Wah Kee Tong defeat a local Metahuman going by Squall who had weather-based powers. Control over the winds and rains did not avail Squall against Daiyu when she uncovered his true identity as a local financier. She took the Dragon Pearl from Squall's Private Collection after ending him and became a Master.

Regardless, it wasn't as if Daiyu could honestly say she couldn't escape from any trap if she wanted to. She may as well see if whoever had sent this note was genuine. If they were not, then Daiyu would fight her way out of whatever trap they had set, and then she would track down whoever had set it.

Either way, her next few months would be interesting, at least. . .

XXXX

Aoife MacDougall had managed to escape her father's attempted coup on Olympus intact, though it had been a close-run thing. More than once before she had managed to leave the Mediterranean behind her had she caught wind of the snuffling bovine snout of a Minotaur searching for her under a glamour. Thankfully, she had managed to make her way back to Ireland without being detected by Zeus and was now well out of the Olympian's jurisdiction.

Now, she was holed up in a safehouse that she was sure no one else knew about on the outskirts of Dublin, on one of the islands in the Skerries. The place she was using had been an old hideout of a group of IRA-Affiliated Smugglers who had since all been arrested, though the Cops had never rumbled their hideout. Aoife had hit upon the place by chance, in what had once been the cellar of a demolished martello tower from the days of Napoleon.

The tower had been pulled down after Waterloo to save costs, but the Brits hadn't finished the job, instead deciding simply to cover over the cellar doors with dirt. That was typical of them, but their loss had been the IRA's gain, and now that gain had transferred to Aoife. If only she could kick the strange feeling that she was being watched, that'd be something.

"Must be paranoid. No one knows about this place." Muttered Aoife. Still, she might as well head up top and have a look, just in case.

"Is it really paranoia if there really folks out to get you?" She queried to herself.

Her paranoia would turn out to be founded after all. As soon as she headed up top to check to see if there was some Coast Guard Cutter, Would-be Hero, or Olympian Avenger snooping around her safehouse, she found a note pinned to the camouflaged door of the cellar. Looking around sharply and extending her sense of hearing using her Sonokinetic Powers turned up nothing, however, so Aoife snatched the note and absconded with it back into her safehouse.

Reading it, however, turned Aoife's mood from bleak to vengeful. Whoever had written her this clearly knew their shite, because they were offering her revenge against the bloke who had been her primary opponent back on Olympus. The Yuen Bloke who'd kicked her arse, killed more than one full-blown God, and even managed to deal the finishing blow to a Godsdamned Titan. They wanted her to be at the Galaxy Communications Telecom Equipment Warehouse on the Dublin Docks at midnight three days from now if she was interested.

Aoife frowned at that. Whoever this was was either bloody stupid or they had the sort of power that would be necessary to take a crack at the Yuen and have a good chance to pull this off. Since they'd found her hideout so easy, Aoife was pretty sure they weren't stupid, so that left the other option. She couldn't say she wasn't intrigued by the proposal. Of course, this could all be a trap, but that ran into the problem of Occam's Razor. Aoife'd never much cared for philosophy, but when you're hanging around Olympus for so long, you pick up a certain appreciation for the logic of it.

After all, if they had been able to track Aoife down to her hideout, why would they bother with a trap? They could have attacked her here far more easily if that was what they wanted. Sometimes, the simplest explanations are the right ones. This was no trap, and clearly, the writers of the Note weren't stupid, so Aoife may as well see what they wanted.

After all, it wasn't often that a shot at vengeance just fell into your lap like this. . .

XXXX

Whisper A'Daire had sent off the notes beckoning the Yuen Boy's two rivals to come to meet with her. If they had any sense of vengeance in them at all, they'd be arriving within the hour. Of course, neither of them would actually be meeting with her in the locations specified. No, they would be transported to this base underneath Johannesburg via Boom Tube. Here, Whisper A'Daire would make both the Daughter of Ares and the Former Princess of the Sima Clan an offer they couldn't refuse.

Unfortunately, she would have no such leverage against the being she was summoning now. After all, what could she do to a Rhyming Demon from the Pit? Certainly, Lord Darkseid and his forces had technology that could do something, but he had not shared it with Intergang. Still, Boss Mannheim had demanded she try everything in her power to beef up the team she was putting together to attempt to help pave the way for Lord Darkseid's Arrival further. She had to at least try.

With the summoning circle complete, and the blood of a sacrifice spilled over the diagram, all it took was a surge of mystical energy to summon her latest attempted recruit. Whisper herself was no sorceress, but she didn't need to be to feed mystical energy into a diagram like this. After all, the Technomagical power sources that the Technology that Lord Darkseid had granted Intergang would work just as well as any native power a sorcerer had. She set the generator to feed in the power, then there was a flash of light and her target appeared in the summoning circle.

A hunched-over Demon with one hand replaced by a wicked-looking battleaxe head and with no discernible bottom jaw appeared inside the summoning circle. Whisper knew the lack of bottom jaw was a leftover reminder of the duel that this particular Rhyming Demon had fought against the Yuen Boy. He had lost that bout, and Whisper was hopeful that he would consent to being summoned and bound to fight a rematch.

"This summoning is not quite so rote, you've intrigued the Hell out of Squatterbloat. Tell me what and who you are, to have summoned me by going this far. Apokaliptan generators do I spy, so now talk fast or prepare to die." Rhymed Squatterbloat.

"I am Whisper A'Daire, a ranking Member of Intergang under Boss Mannheim. As for what I want? I want to give you a chance at a rematch with the one responsible for your lack of bottom jaw." Pitched Whisper.

"Darkseid's thralls is what you are, though commend you I do on getting this far. I shall not face the Yuen Boy again, not when he is causing you so much pain. I relish not a new chance to fight, honestly, I think the Yuen is all right." Scoffed Squatterbloat.

"Then perhaps sacrifices made in your name to help you grow in power in the Hierarchy of the Pit might tempt you?" Offered Whisper.

"You will not sink your foul claws in me, now dispel your summoning and leave me be. I am quite happy with the position I fill, now break this circle or you will be killed. I give you one chance, not to gloat, but mere lackeys like you can't hold Squatterbloat." Refused Squatterbloat.

"Is that so? You're bound in my circle, that does seem to indicate that I can hold you, no?" Asked Whisper.

"You meddle with forces beyond your comprehension, perhaps you simply don't feel the tension. Allow me to rectify that, if I may, and you will see why you should have acquiesced this day." Growled Squatterbloat.

Suddenly, Squatterbloat pressed his one, non-axe hand against the invisible mystic barrier and poured power into it. Demonic energies thrashed against ritual diagrams, and the screen on the computer attached to the power generator flashed a red warning. Was this the power of the Captain of Hell's Gates? That was terrifying. Whisper knew that Lord Darkseid hadn't given Intergang his best technologies, but to think they could struggle to contain a mere Rhyming Demon? Whisper had no other choice but to disrupt the summoning, otherwise, the quantum singularity feeding power into the mystic circuits would break containment sooner or later.

Moments later, Squatterbloat was free as Whisper wiped away a section of the bloody ritual circle, breaking the binding. The Captain of Hell's Gates glared down at Whisper and for a few moments, Whisper thought he might attack. Then Squatterbloat just shook his head.

"Even should you succeed you will not find what you seek, in Darkseid's eyes all others are weak. Deluded fools I name you all, next time you try this, I'll not answer your call." Snorted Squatterbloat.

Then, in a puff of brimstone and yellow, sulfurous, smoke, Squatterbloat was gone. He'd banished himself back to the pit. That was too close for Whisper's liking. Even if she'd had Kyle with her here, she wouldn't have liked to have tried her luck in a straight fight against Squatterbloat. Unfortunately, Kyle was still busily acting as a mole in Ra's Al-Ghul's Organization, ready to bring down the League of Assassins from the inside when the signal was given. Fortunately, that also meant that none were around to see Whisper let out a breath that she'd been holding throughout the confrontation with Squatterbloat.

She took a few deep breaths to regain her calm after her near-death experience, before straightening herself up. She finished not a moment too soon, as a pair of Boom Tubes opened up shortly thereafter, signifying her prospective recruits were about to arrive. She knew enough about the Ex-Sima Princess and the Daughter of Ares to tailor her pitches and estimated that she would be successful in getting both of them on-side with her plans.

She would not be disappointed either, unlike with Squatterbloat. Going forward, Intergang would have two new members who knew the ins and outs of the Cultivation Families and one of the few Pantheons to still be around and reasonably intact. That would serve them in good stead while combatting the efforts of the self-proclaimed defenders of Earth to stop their progress. Meanwhile, Boss Mannheim kept throwing away perfectly good operatives and resources on foolhardy ventures such as an attempt to open an Intergang Chapter in Khandaq when they needed what operatives and resources they had to combat the Would-Be Heroes. When Lord Darkseid arrived, Whisper was sure he would see that.

And then, perhaps, it would be Whisper A'Daire's turn to rule Intergang with their God's Blessing, instead of the increasingly ineffectual Boss Mannheim. . .

XXXX

AN: So as I'm feeling a little better, I wrote this up to try and get back in the swing of posting my regular stories. I should be ready to get fully back into it by tomorrow. This is just me dipping my toe back in after being laid up with flu for the past few days.

I know I said that we'd see Jackie's return to Gotham and stuff with his Grandad and Ma next, but it occurred to me that writing up an interlude to show the Opposition's side of things vis-a-vis intergang would be useful here so some of the twists I have planned for the Apokaliptan Invasion don't seem to come out of left field.

The next chapter will be Jackie's return to Gotham and family interactions, I promise.

Stay tuned. . .