Worst Case Scenario

Chapter 74: Aftermath

Unknown Location
December 29, 10:38 UTC

One by one, the screens flickered on. Six members of the Light, faces still shrouded in flickering white.

"Well that failed" said L-4.

"Yes," L-1 admitted. "The results were indeed sub-par."

"SUB-PAR!?" L-3 shouted, an unusual occurrence for him. "Sub-par is achieving some but not all of your objectives. What sub-par is NOT is initiating a plan to neutralize a team of sidekicks and proceeding to lose three bases, control of Belle Reve Penitentiary, two Lords of Chaos and A TWO BILLION DOLLAR INTER-DIMENSIONAL PORTAL, the first of its kind in history, and the end result? Not a single enemy dead, captured or severely injured, one of them boosted exponentially in power and a considerable amount of our secretive organization exposed. That is not 'sub-par,' 1. That is the very definition of 'catastrophic failure.'"

"Forgive him" said L-4. "He is extremely upset about the Q.E.D. You understand, of course, given all of the resources and effort that went into creating it."

"Do you think you are the only one?" L-6 shouted. "I put more work into it than you, and you do not see me complaining!"

"Perhaps if I had some part to play in losing the device, I would feel more accommodating" spat L-3. He had regained his composure, but the venom was still clearly present in his tone. "But for now, as I see it, you, 1 and 7 have done a considerable amount of damage to our organization and achieved very little in return. Our... associate is none-to-pleased either. He wishes to inform us of his deepest dissatisfaction with these results."

"I will speak with him once this meeting is over" said L-2. "He is still of use to us, and only we can provide him with what he needs. I will reassure him that failures happen from time to time, and the key achieving what we all want is to continue to move forwards."

"Still, I agree with 3, 4 and our partner" said L-5. "This operation was far too ambitious and complex to have possibly succeeded. Faking a defection? Exposing the Martian's true form? Only exploiting Aqualad's relationship with Black Manta was of any particular worth. Had we just engaged them directly as I suggested-"

"Once again, 5," L-1 interrupted "you presume too much. Once you have delivered Atlantis into our hands, then you will have the right to complain with our progress."

"You know as well as I do that Aquaman must be eliminated before that can happen, and yet you refuse to target him."

"Patience" said L-4. "We don't want to tip our hand. Once the Justice League has crumbled, Aquaman will be an easy target. Until then, I suggest we move onto more pressing matters."

"Agreed" said L-2. "Bickering among ourselves does nothing except strengthen our enemies."

"Very well" said L-3. "What is the status of 7?"

"It would appear" said L-1 "that Zatara has successfully removed the connection between 7 and his familiar. He is currently trapped on the Astral Plane, unable to observe or interact with us. Re-establishing the connection would be extremely difficult... under normal circumstances."

"What do you have in mind?" L-6 asked.

"The cat was not 7's only connection to this plane" said L-1. "I have in my possession a ring that contains a small portion of his essence. For the moment the connection is very weak, but over time, as 7 recovers from tonight's battle, he will be able to contact us. Once he is strong enough, it will be possible to summon him and re-establish the bond between him and his familiar. It will take a considerable amount of magical power, but that can be arranged when the time comes."