Chapter 37

Queen Bee had been well aware of the unrest occuring in Quarac in the three months since the assassination of Rumaan Harjavti. The shouting matches which had been very publicized between Rumaan's brother, Sumaan, and Rumaan's daughter, Noor, about what to do and whether or not Queen Bee had been to blame and whether or not they should mobilize and strike Biayla. There were a few insurgent groups who were mobilizing inside the country, and they were not too fond of Queen Bee's regime for their own reasons.

For the past three months, Queen Bee waited from the palace and planned. There had been something going on behind the scenes, ever since the attack on Marie Logan, on New Year's Day 2011. Other small events, disasters, bombings, stabbings of Quarac officials, and also the murder of their president, which was made to look like one of the many insurgent groups in the country did so.

Queen Bee kept a close eye on her associates within the Light. But, from all indications, they seemed about as ignorant to the end game of the plan as she did.

"We need to find out who hired Deathstroke," Queen Bee said. "He's the key to all of this."

Talia al Ghul, on the end of the communication, inclined her head for a brief second.

"Of course," Talia replied. "We do. But, so far, he's gone underground. Whoever paid him must have paid him enough. All I know is neither attack came from within the League. Although our spies in Quarac indicate they are going to try something very bold and very foolish."

Just verifying what Queen Bee's intelligence had said. The situation in Quarac had got worse, with the various warring factions. Rumaan's presidency lit a match which sparked an entire power keg, threatening to destabilize pretty much everything in that country and in that region of the world.

"Let me know if you hear anything further."

Queen Bee stepped in. Now might be the time to summon some help, from outside of her own resources. But naturally, Marina's pride had gotten the better of her during the last few years. She refused, ever since New Year's Day, to make any statements to clear her name.

If the League and the Team thought she was behind Marie Logan's attack, then that was their own problem. Marina just wished she knew who was behind the attack.

The sounds of palace guards falling outside made Marina uneasy. Queen Bee put her hand on the door when suddenly the one across the room broke open.

Several AIM members lead by their scientist supreme appeared. They held high tech weapons on Queen Bee and also around their costumes, wore some kind of field to block her pheromones. Queen Bee smile. The little bee keepers did their homework.

Two guards crashed to the ground and more came down. The Scientist Supreme locked her eyes on Queen Bee.

"This has been a long time coming, your majesty," The Scientist Supreme said.

The AIM guards surrounded Queen Bee who held her hands up. She was very curious to see why AIM thought they could be bold enough to invade her sanctuary.

"So, what's your play?" Queen Bee asked her.

"Fulfilling my destiny," The Scientist Supreme said.

AIM could not have entered the country without any assistance. More pieces fell into place. Queen Bee could see everything more clearly now than ever before.

A dart in her neck put Marina to dream land and the snapping of dampening handcuffs gave them an extra edge against the Queen.

Marie Logan tried to look away from the latest demonstrations in Quarac. Things had gotten worse. In the background, Megan, Karen, and Harry hovered. Megan broke away from the rest of the group, and moved over to Marie to put her hands on the woman's shoulder.

"You're glad you left,"" Megan said.

"Yeah, but...the country's being torn apart," Marie said. "It wasn't perfect underneath Harjavti's regime, but at least it...well at least it…..his brother is a hot head."

"Yes," Harry said. "And Noor's not picking up."

Every three days lock clockwork, Harry had been talking to Noor overseas. He wished she had decided to come over to the States to get away and Harry offered to fly her over and get her set up somewhere nice. Noor said she had to stand to fight for the people who could not speak for herself.

Summaan's hostility towards anything from the West had been very obvious and he thought his brother was an idiot trying to modernize the country.

"For someone so against the West, he was meeting with Maxwell Lord of all people," Karen reminded him.

Yes that particular vexed Harry. The last conversation Harry had with Noor, three days ago, had been about Lord meeting with Sumaan about something. Harry did not like it, especially given his past dealings with Lord. And maybe this was the reason why Noor had disappeared.

"I'm not obsessive am I?" Harry asked.

"No, something's wrong," Megan said.

Harry was about halfway to the door to fly over to Quarac. Which might have been reckless in itself, but it needed to be.

"League's calling," Karen said.

Harry waved off Karen who moved off. The news on the television screen, the death of another one of the previous regime's supporters painted a grim picture and made Harry very concerned for Noor's well-being in this country.

"HARRY!"

A three dimensional image of Nora Darhk appeared in front of them.

"Meet me in the place where you lost your mind," Nora said. "There's been an attack on the Palace, and if AIM gets their hands on it, we're all in trouble."

Nora disappeared as quickly as she did. Megan raised her eyebrow, and frowned.

"Got her hands on what?" Megan asked.

Harry shook his head in response. He had no idea. AIM attacking Biayla had been a cause for concern for the simple reason Harry doubted very much they could do so without any outside help and a few of the pieces had been together.

"Should we call the Team?" Megan asked.

"No, take my hand," Harry said.

The two teleported off to meet Nora, something was up, although Harry was uneasy.

Marina woke up, chained in one of her own cells. The irony of the situation. The place which so many dissidents had been placed, had now been her own prison.

"You're nothing without your allure."

The Scientist Supreme stepped in front of Marina, unmasking to reveal Monica Rappaccini. Marina broke out into an amused smile when looking upon the identity of her captor.

"Well, my dear baby sister, I didn't think it would be possible for you to do something so bold," Marina said with a slight cock of her head.

"This has been a long time coming," Monica said. "You and Ruve, you always were the chosen ones, and I got the scraps of what was left."

"And you got in bed with Sumaan Harjavti and Maxwell Lord out of petty jealousy, and even more petty revenge," Marina said. "Oh, that was not too smart. They're using you, and they will throw you to the side like a piece of trash."

"You don't understand the resources I command as the Scientist Supreme of AIM," Monica said. "And I did you a favor. They wished to kill you off hand, and I told them to spare your life."

Marina just snorted in response.

"Not out of the kindness of their hearts, because I have something they want," Marina said. "And they might not want to risk the wrath of some very powerful individuals. Lex Luthor, Vandal Savage, Ra's al Ghul, even one of these names strike terror in the hearts of men."

"Your precious Light will be snuffed out," Monica said. "And the entire world believes you to be a cruel woman. They think that you ordered the hit on Marie Logan, after she defied you. It is typical of you, to try and take someone out of the picture who made you look inferior."

Marina chuckled at her sister and leaned back. The chains did not make her look very relaxed.

"I backed off on the Logan woman out of respect to Superman," Marina said.

"Oh, and you haven't gotten anywhere on that front in a couple of years," Monica said. "I'm sure it tears you up inside that you don't know who hired Cain."

Cain, oh yes, that traitor, Marina would take care of him in due time. Her sister knew something as well. Monica put a hand on the side of Marina's face and forced her to look Monica in the eyes.

"Down where you belong and soon AIM, the true masters of the world, will put out the Light," Monica said. "Tell me where the key is, and you may have a place in this world in the future."

Marina just gave Monica a small smile. Smug, self-assured, as one would expect from Queen Bee in a situation such as this one. She almost laughed in Monica's face, despite the metal staff in the Scientist Supreme's hand which cackled with energy.

"You really think you have all of the cards?" Marina asked. "And for your information, I am the key."

"It's a weapon dangerous enough to reduce an entire city to ashes. It was supposed to be a deterrent for Quarac to prevent them from acting never meant to be used. Sumaan is insane enough to try something."

Nora met with Megan and Harry in the cave in the desert in Biayla. Unlike the last time the three were in this place, there were no troops or team members trying to get back their memories.

"Pretty big deterrent," Megan said. "Sure, Queen Bee isn't going to turn it on the first people who look at her cross-eyed or maybe take some oil she wants away from her?"

"Megan," Harry said to her.

Nora threw her hands up into the air.

"Look, I know you think that Aunt Marina was the one who hired Cain to send the assassin after Marie," Nora said. "She's done nothing to defend herself because there's nothing to defend. She did not do it. She gave her word to Harry, that she would not attack Marie, and she didn't...it was around the time all of the unrest in Quarac happened. Don't you think the timing isn't coincidental?"

Megan just set her jaw. Harry put a hand on her shoulder to cool her down a little bit before she shoved Nora against the wall.

"I know she didn't do it,' Nora said. "But, the person who did hire Cain, he's dangerous."

Harry noticed Nora's usage of pronouns.

"You know something that you're not telling us," Harry said.

"Well, if you want my opinion, I believe Sumaan hired Cain to attack Marie and also Deathstroke to kill his own brother," Nora said. "There's always been whispers regarding the fact he's been tied to several extremist groups, although he's been able to avoid true suspicion."

"And he met with Maxwell Lord," Harry said. "Noor told me before...well she hasn't talked to me in a few days, and I'm concerned something is up."

Nora sighed and nodded. She turned to Megan who looked back at her. There had been some friction between these two women which were about ready to bubble over to the surface.

"I suppose you believe that my aunt is behind what happened to Noor as well," Nora said.

"Well, we'll see who is behind this," Megan said. "If you're telling the truth, Sumaan is a person of interest. And if he's meeting with Maxwell Lord….."

"Lord's working with AIM, and AIM was most certainly involved," Nora reminded them. "Help me take them down and I swear I'll do everything in my power to help you find Cain."

"Always something in it for you, is there?" Megan asked. "What's your call, Harry?"

"We need to get this weapon out of AIM's hands," Harry said.

Megan was not too comfortable with Queen Bee having such a weapon which she could point at anyone. Hell, she might be able to point it at Metropolis or Central City or Star City or Gotham or Happy Harbor, or any the other places, just to prove a point of the Light's Superiority.

'I know you don't trust Nora one hundred percent,' Harry thought.

'Putting it mildy,' Megan thought.

'M'gann,' Harry pleaded.

She could see that Harry had a soft spot for Nora, although, she did not see it.

'I trust you and I trust you know what you're doing,' Megan thought. 'And I still think this is some game by Queen Bee and the Light….you know how they are.'

Harry knew, but also knew Nora was being sincere in her belief that Queen Bee was not behind the attack on Marie and also the assassination of the Quarac President. Unless Nora had been played, which was always a possibility.

"Well, you know the palace the best," Harry said to Nora. "How are we doing to do this?"

Sumaan Harjavti and Maxwell Lord kicked back in the Presidential Palace over some wine. Like a pair of fat cats who had just caught the ultimate rat in their opinion.

"Are you certain we can trust AIM, old friend?" Sumaan asked.

"AIM is a necessary resource," Maxwell said. "The Scientist Supreme will get our weapon and then we can begin taking control of them. We should test the weapon and Metropolis is the perfect target."

Aiming the weapon at the city Luthor built and reducing it purely into ash caused Lord some great glee. After all of the troubles Lord had with Luthors over the years, it would be the perfect revenge.

"Oh, it would be perfect," Sumaan said. "The home of Superman….Superwoman….Supergirl….Power Girl….to think our last line of defense against threats would be a bunch of filthy aliens. Man has grown soft with his modern values, his modern convenience, and cannot evolve because he's too busy being on his smartphone, watching his American Idol and his Kardashians!"

That last sentence had been spit out Sumaan.

"Your niece is not going to be a problem?"

"No, she won't be," Sumaan said.

Summan drained the glass of wine and walked down the hallway. Nora kneeled before him, but not by choice. She had been stripped of her disgusting Western garb by Sumaan, and all of her clothing was burned. She had been forced into a more traditional garb, covering every inch of her body in black, except for the area around her eyes. Only the hints of bruises flicked, along with the hate which burned through her eyes.

She would learn to be more submissive.

"You will kneel before our Savior every day," Summan said. "All women should only have the eyes exposed, for it keeps them honest."

"You are a filthy dog!" Noor yelled.

Summan sank his fist in his own niece's mouth in response.

"The western values have corrupted you like a common street walker!" Sumaan growled. "My brother, your father, is a fool, and you are nothing but a filthy little harlot. Your Superman will fall, and then you will be granted the mercy which you do not deserve."

Sumaan started murmuring a prayer for Noor, upon her inevitable execution.

"Superman will stop you," Noor mumbled through a busted lip.

Sumaan backhanded Noor through the cell bars and ripped open the cell door to kick her in the ribs a couple of times. The guards moved in and Sumaan took a deep breath as they stopped him short of beating her to death with his bare hands.

"Always about him, always about your false god, always about that filthy western devil!" Sumaan yelled.

"You won't silence me," Noor said. "Why don't you do yourself a favor and crawl back inside your mother's vagina?"

Sumaan snarled but the guards held him back. Women who spoke in turn like this should have their tongues cut out. In fact, it tempted Sumaan to do so now.

"Master President, the key is being located," he said.

His harlot niece could wait, this had been Sumaan's greatest triumph. He could not wait to bring the entire world to its knees.

Harry, Megan, and Nora slipped into the palace in one of the underground tunnels. The minute they arrived, a red solar energy field came around them.

"Well, we should have suspected this."

Nora moved over to open the door only to find only a spark of energy emitting from her finger tip.

"They….they negated my magic," Nora said. "How about you?"

Harry held his hand and while he could levitate a few pebbles which great difficulty, it had been very hard for him to do anything else.

"Someone's coming," Megan said.

The doors burst open and several AIM soldiers, along with Quarac's military turned up. They all held weapons on the entire group.

"The Queen may be more compliant if her niece is in peril," the guard said. "Get…."

Nora withdrew a dagger and stabbed one of them in the leg. She moved around and disarmed another one of them with a quick swipe of her knife down upon the man's wrist and blood spilled everywhere.

Nora Darhk was not going to come quietly and not be a hostage for whatever sick game they were playing. Magic or no magic she was not.

Megan stopped the bullets coming at them. Being the only one who had completely functional powers here, she had to pick up the slack.

Harry still had reserves, but the red solar lamps had some kind of weird quality to them which depleted his energy, in addition to preventing him from obtaining yellow sunlight. Harry blocked the cattle prod from one of the AIM goons and came back to him.

Using a series of swift attacks, Harry took the military down one at a time before they could fire a shot, without magic and without super powers. The physical training Harry received from both Dinah and Diana came in handy.

"We have to fall back, there's more on the way," Megan said.

Sheer numbers looked to overwhelm them. One of the AIM soldiers managed to snap a collar on Megan. Harry rushed in and helped fight him off.

"I can't...hear anyone's thoughts," Megan said.

"They came prepared...here!" Nora yelled as she pushed a gun towards Megan.

Megan had unfortunately knew how to fire a gun. Being a White Martian, it was hard not to get exposed to violence, and she fired the admittedly low tech weapons at the goon squad who turned up. They had kept moving, almost overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

A figure dressed in black stabbed two of the Quarac Soldiers and dropped them down. She moved with expert effiency, wiping them out.

Talia al Ghul broke open a side door behind a bookshelf. She turned to the party.

"Follow me!" Talia yelled. "And cover your ears."

Talia threw a grenade over her shoulder and it released a combination of sonic attacks and flash bangs which blinded and deafened the soldiers.

From the vault, a collared Megan, along with Nora, and Harry slipped down. Talia allowed a panel in the wall to scan her for a secret exit and even Nora did not know about this one.

The moment the four slipped into a secret tunnel, Talia finally spoke.

"My father's puppet, Sumaan Harjavti, he will pay for his deceit," Talia said.