Revenge: Act 2: Divide and Conquer - part 1
by BlueBard

Lord Dominion scowled down at the viewscreen from his gleaming throne. His bulbous grey cranium throbbed with seething anger. "Phase One of my plan was not as successful as I had hoped."

"Long live Lord Dominion, Master of the Universe!" exclaimed the alien known as Praetor, in a shrill and grating voice.

Dominion shifted his glare toward his Prime Minister. "Spare me your babbling, Praetor. Ordinarily it would amuse me, but not now." Dominion turned his glowering gaze back to the viewscreen. "Optimally, Freedom Force would have leveled their own precious city in an uncontrollable rage, and the human race would have seen to its own extinction. This was not anywhere near an optimal result." Dominion drummed long grey fingers on the armrests of his silvery throne.

"I foresaw that Mentor would alter the artificial entity called Microwave to pass through the forcefield and I made certain the Psychowave device was defended against it. The futurian robot was destroyed as planned, but not before it neutralized the Psychowave. The one Energy-X enhanced human caught in the Psychowave was subdued before it could do more than negligible damage. I failed to account for the possibility that any of that rabble besides Mentor and the robot would be resistant to the effects of the Psychowave, and underestimated the robot's adaptability and its willingness to sacrifice itself."

Dominion clenched his fist and slammed it down on the arm of his throne. "That is NOT optimal!" he snarled in fury. "That is what I call a failure, and I do not tolerate failure!"

Praetor wisely chose not to remind his enraged master that the plan was his alone, or that he, Lord Dominion, was personally in charge of its execution. Praetor was more than a little worried that someone else might get executed to satisfy the ire of the despot. "Yes, my master." Praetor changed the subject quickly. "You said this was only Phase One of your plan?"

Dominion calmed himself. "Yes, of course, Praetor. I did not become Lord of the Dominion by failing to make plans for all conceivable contingencies. We will hammer away at Freedom Force until they fall. This was only a first blow, and my master plan will not fail. My desire is to humble them before I destroy them, Mentor most of all!"

Dominion allowed himself a tight, evil grin. "At any rate, Freedom Force is one member fewer and that means one less thorn in my side. We will see Mentor squirm as one by one his champions fall before me." Dominion pushed a button on the armrest and the throne descended to the floor. "It is time that I initiated Phase Two."

Praetor was filled with misgivings. His master's planning had ended in disaster of late, and each failure made the tyrant more vicious and irrational. He knew that it irked Lord Dominion that it was Mentor's human champions that had rescued them all from the End of Time and that he, the self-proclaimed Lord of the Dimensions, had been helpless before the threat. It irked the proud dictator even more that it was his idea to bestow Energy-X upon humanity that had made Timemaster's scheme possible and had allowed humanity to resist Dominion's cruel designs. An irked Lord Dominion was a dangerous Lord Dominion to be near, and Praetor had no desire to find himself on the receiving end of his master's wrath. It was Praetor's job to implement his sovereign's policies, and it was in Praetor's best interests to see that Lord Dominion's plans succeeded.

"Lord Dominion," he groveled, "may I hear more about this plan of yours that I may worship your genius?"

Dominion chuckled evilly. "Ah, Praetor! You are what the humans refer to as a 'bootlicker'. I like that in a servant. Very well, I shall share with you enough to whet your appetite, my Prime Minister. Phase One was too ambitious, dependent on too many assumptions. I will return to the methods that lifted me above the rest of my race to become Lord Dominion."

Praetor was encouraged, and nodded enthusiastically. "Divide and conquer. Eliminate the weakest first. Create discord among your enemies and demoralize them. Infiltrate and destroy them from within. Use your enemies' own foes and weaknesses against them. Deploy the maximum force against the most minimal resistance. Conceal your resources until the time to strike! Yes, my Lord! Brilliant! Brilliant!"

Dominion smiled wickedly. "I shall sow the seeds of their defeat today and reap their destruction tomorrow."

Meanwhile at the Freedom Fortress, Mentor surveyed the heroes sitting before him at the table. Minuteman. Bullet. El Diablo. AlcheMiss. The rest of the team was scattered throughout Patriot City, trying to re-establish order in the riot-ravaged city. Though the Psychowave device had been destroyed, the city's worst elements had decided to take advantage of the chaos and continued rioting and looting. Mentor was very conscious of the fact that there was one hero he would never behold again. "Which of these will be the next to fall before the awesome might of the Dominion?" he thought.

"Where is that boy?" Minuteman asked gruffly. "I told Nick to stay here at the Freedom Fortress."

"Ah suppose he figured crowd control was more to his likin' than watchin' a control panel," drawled the southern belle they called AlcheMiss.

"I don't blame him, Chiquita. I don't wanna sit around here either," complained El Diablo.

"El Diablo," Mentor began, "I asked you to stay because your powers are more suited to facing an invasion by the Dominion than to pacifying normal humans. After this morning's events, I do not believe your appearance in public would be very comforting to your fellow man."

"What? You gonna blame me for that energy wave thingy?"

Minuteman held up his hand commandingly. "Settle down, Diablo! He's right. Besides, we could really use your... firepower." The group stared at Minuteman. Then, except for Mentor, they all laughed.

"I fail to see the humor in this situation," frowned Mentor.

"Mentor, my friend, sometimes we humans need to laugh in order to deal with life and break up the tension," explained Minuteman.

"Sometimes I feel I will never understand your race," sighed Mentor.

"That's all right, Mentor," smiled Bullet. "Most o' the time we don't, neither."

Mentor shook his head. "Let us continue. Before Microwave... before he neutralized the device, Microwave was able to determine that the forcefield protecting it was of Dominion origin."

"Mentor," asked Minuteman gently, "Is there any chance at all that Microwave survived that explosion?"

Mentor knew that Minuteman felt as responsible for the rest of the team as he himself did. "I wish that there were. I surveyed the scene thoroughly with the Freedom Flyer's sensors. There was nothing left of him I could find, and there were some indications of molecular disruption. I surmise that the energy from the device as it was destroyed somehow interacted with his own energy matrix as it was channelled through his flux array. I could go into the technical details, but I do not fully understand what happened and we do not have the luxury of time.

"Suffice to say that it is certain that the device was merely the prelude to an attack by the Dominion. Had it not been for Microwave's intervention, the energy wave would have destabilized the entire globe and made it an easy target for Lord Dominion's forces. It is typical strategy for the Dominion to weaken the opposing enemy before overwhelming them with superior force.

"Thanks to AlcheMiss' ability to close the dimensional portals the Dominion uses to attack, we should normally be able to hold off an invasion..."

"Ah hear a 'but' in there, Sugar," AlcheMiss replied. "You seem worried about somethin'."

"Yes. It is of great concern to me that the Dominion was able to plant the Psychowave device without triggering any of the alarms I have prepared to detect an interdimensional invasion. Any dimensional portal opening anywhere within this solar system should have been detected. How this was possible I cannot fathom without more information."

Suddenly, the massive control panel on the wall lit up with flashing lights and a loud klaxon hooted alarmingly! Mentor leapt up and ran to the console, but before he could reach the controls the alarm went silent.

"What's goin' on?" exclaimed AlcheMiss. "Is the Dominion attackin'?" The heroes stood ready for action.

Mentor examined the control panel's readouts. "Strange. There is no sign of any danger. The program appears to have been disrupted temporarily by some electromagnetic phenomenon. Whatever it was, it is gone without a trace. I suggest that we remain on guard, in case this is the result of some new Dominion weapon."

Minuteman pointed to El Diablo. "Diablo, you stay here with Mentor and monitor the sensors. The rest of us will join the effort to restore order to the city."

"Ay, Caramba! I wish I was out there knockin' the bad guys' heads with Liberty Lad!"

"Hey, Goon-Squad! Here's an autographed stun grenade for ya!" From atop a small apartment building, Liberty Lad tossed a grenade in the midst of a gang looting a pawn shop at the corner of East and Third. The dazzling blast knocked them to the ground, and rendered most of them unconscious. He leapt gracefully off his high perch, tucked into a forward roll and landed on his feet, running. He caught up with one of the thugs trying to stagger away, grabbed him by the arm and spun him around.

"Too easy!" he crowed, and decked the looter, who fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Two others were getting to their feet and glaring at the youthful crimefighter. "What's the matter?" he teased. "You boys don't like the way I play?"

"Play dis!" growled one of the thugs as he whipped out a gun. Bang! Liberty Lad ducked, and the bullet whizzed by. Bang! Bang! Bang! The gunman fired again as Liberty Lad jumped, rolled, and dodged out of the line of fire. "Hold still, ya little jackrabbit!" he yelled.

"You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!" jeered the other hoodlum.

The thug with the gun whirled and turned on his partner in crime. "You shut yer yap, Louie, or I'll give you a taste of lead!"

The startled crook stammered, "I-I didn't say nothin', Petey! Honest!"

Both men turned at the sound of a metal object hitting the ground and rolling toward their feet.

"Time for a nap, boys!" smiled Liberty Lad as the stun grenade detonated. Both men were flung to the ground and knocked unconscious. "Too easy," he sighed. "Almost a pity to waste the ol' throw-my-voice trick on you mugs. You're dumb enough and slow enough I didn't need it, but I'm in a hurry to save the city." Nick tapped his communicator. "Liberty Lad to Freedom Fortress. Got a load of sleeping beauties for the cops to pick up at the corner of East and Third."

El Diablo's voice replied through the communicator. "Hey, Nicky! Ain't you supposed to be here watchin' this monitor? You're supposed to leave some bad guys for me, Amigo!"

Liberty Lad made a crackling, whistling noise into his communicator. "Didn't copy... last... El... ...breaking up. Do... favor... send some cops to... up these crooks. Thanks!"

"Kid, you an' I both know your communicator works," scolded Diablo. "I'll send the policia, but you better be careful out there. You get hurt an' Minuteman's gonna kill you himself. Diablo, out."

Liberty Lad made a powerful leap to the top of the storefront. "Gee Whiz!" he complained. "I get these neat super powers to fight crime with and look what happens! Minuteman acts like I need a babysitter! Why do I gotta sneak out to be a hero?" Nick leapt from rooftop to rooftop in search of more rioters. He soon heard a commotion coming from the other direction, like the sound of screeching tires, the roar of an engine, and metallic crashing noises.

Nick looked down at the street behind him as a black sedan screeched around the corner. It jumped the curb, narrowly missing a couple on the sidewalk and scattering a row of trash cans. The car plowed through a phone booth with a shattering of glass and swerved back out into the street. Nick could see the figures of two men in the car. He started to run as fast as he could over the rooftops, trying to stay even with the car. He vaulted over an alley, fought his way past a clothesline, and hurdled over chimneys desperately trying to keep up.

As the car skidded into a hard right around the corner, Liberty Lad leapt off the last building and landed on his feet on top of the car. He managed to keep his balance despite the wild manuvers of the sedan. "Whee! This is better than roller skates!" Nick stayed on top through several swerves and hard turns. "I'd better stop these guys before someone gets hurt!" He turned and slid down the front of the windshield, intending to block the driver's view of the street and force him to stop. Nick was shocked to discover that the driver didn't have a face! Before Nick could recover, the car braked without warning!

Nick tucked into a roll as he was thrown from the hood of the car. He cried out in pain as he hit the pavement, but managed to roll through the impact and gradually come to a stop facing the car. The occupants climbed out of the vehicle, and he could see that they were dressed like your average lowlife hoodlum but the similarity stopped above the neck. They had eyes, but no nose, mouth, ears or hair, and they had pasty white skin.

"What are you guys?" he cried out. Nick tapped his communicator. "Liberty Lad to Freedom Fortress! Liberty Lad to Freedom Fortress! Come in Freedom Fortress!" Nick looked at his communicator and saw that it had been cracked when he landed on the street. "Oh, great!" He turned to the two inhuman figures standing next to the black sedan. "Well, I guess I'll have to fight you... whatever you are... myself!"

To his great surprise, the unnatural-looking humanoids turned and ran in the other direction. "Huh?" he exclaimed. "Wait! Stop! You two aren't going to get away from Liberty Lad!" Nick took off after them, running way faster than the fastest guy on the Varsity track team at his high school. He was disappointed to notice that the two humanoids were moving almost as fast as he was; he'd have to really pour on the speed to catch up to them. They ran right up to a grocery store and sprang to the rooftop. Nick followed with a mighty leap of his own. The strange pursuit careened wildly from roof to roof, then the two fleeing figures jumped down to the street on the other side of the block and ran into an adjacent alley. Liberty Lad charged in after them, readying a stun grenade from his pouch.

Nick stopped short as he saw what waited for him in the alley. "Pinstripe!" he growled.

The two humanoids stood next to a massive figure in a natty pinstriped suit. The purple-skinned villain clutched a tommy-gun in one hand while holding a foul-smelling cigar in the other. Just behind him, a tall lanky figure loomed in the shadows.

"Well, well," mocked Pinstripe, "looky what we got here! Liberty Loser! Glad ya could drop in, kid! I got a score I been itchin' to settle with youse and da rest of Freedom Force."

"How'd you get out of jail, you crook?"

Pinstripe jerked a thumb back at the tall man behind him. "My new partner here busted me out. Say hello ta Techmaster!"

"Uh, uh. I think I'll say goodbye!" Liberty Lad turned, only to see another pair of pasty white humanoids step into the mouth of the alley. He looked up and saw four more rise up above him on either side. "On second thought, maybe I'll stick around awhile."

To Be Continued...