. _ Blackbird & Countinghouse Presents: _ ( ) CONCLAVE OF SUPER-VILLAINS ( ) =-+-= An Academy of Super-Heroes Universe Comic =-+-= I copyright 2000 by Tony Pi & Matt Rossi III I #14 - THE PYRAMID SCHEME STEP ONE - Foundations --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Cover - The Astro-Spear is streaking towards Earth from space, blazing with fire and lightning. Its trail forms a pyramid shape from the bottom of the cover with its tip forming the apex of the pyramid. A small pyramid symbol at the bottom is coloured gold, with a thin line of red across the bottom. (This is the thermometer that will trace the progress of the arc.)] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pawns, Players and Protagonists REBUS Lorenzo Archangeli Anchor, highly trained TRITON Derek Radner Gadgeteer & Electricity CAPRICE Erin Vail Power mutation CONFLICTO Eugene Kwan Friction/Viscosity Control GLYPH Zephirah Reuben Magical sigils LABYRINTHE Yvan Viau Spatial Magic MYRIAD Alpha Rho Twelve Shapeshifting CARYATID Claudette Viau Spiritual Magic SPIRAL Anya Kirova Telekinetic torque TIARA Princess Ursula Master thief BURNOUT III C.J. Brown Fire Control ZONE Gerhard Durst Zone of power MR. STRINGS Tyra Dumont Mind Control PERYTON Viktor Von Wright Bestial form, flight ============================================================================ Excerpt from 'Memoirs of a Super-Villain' by Derek Radner I love the idea of the deathtrap. It's an essential, diabolic, *classic* weapon in the repertoire of any supervillain worth his salt. During my unfortunate incarceration at Leavenworth, I invented many. They were little treasures I could hoard against future use. I even had names for them: the Effervescent Bonegrinder (for Nose); the Infernal Cuisinart; the Imploding Nautilus, to name a few. I even got to use the Squab Roast on Mount Placid, though Kleinvogel escaped that. I did not expect to be caught in one myself, sentenced to die by a "superhero". Solar Max had detected the collapsiron meteor that I wanted to mine. Labyrinthe had lured it to Earth, and it would have splashed down "safely" in the Mediterranean. A portal later, it would have been transported to Khadam. 'VakHak' Taylor wanted to aim it straight at my empire and obliterate it. The gall of it all! He would become a mass murderer just to rid the world of my CSV. The man was teetering on the brink of morality. He had no compunction against locking me down with his gravitational tricks to the surface of the meteor, aiming to dust Africa lightly with the mist of my molecules. I had lost, he cackled. Had the hero defeated the villain? Would supervillainy once again bow to the might of "right"? No! I would not give 'LakNak' that satisfaction. I owed it to Angeline to survive! It was the only immortality I could give her...and I would give her the world we should have ruled together. She would be remembered the world over for what she could have conquered. It was not my time to die. It took me a brief moment to formulate a new Rule in Radner's Laws of Supervillainy [Law #41 in Appendix 2 - Eds.]: Villain or hero, there is always a means of escape from any deathtrap. All I had to do was find one. If only I could grab the AstroSpear and activate a gravity pulse! I might have been able to crush the meteor further, and use it as a heat shield. Of course, the only flaw in this plan was that the collapsiron AstroSpear might survive the impact with the ground, but even wrapped in my Strafe armor and a force field cocoon, whatever excess kinetic energy slipped through would still pulp my skeleton. It didn't matter anyways. The AstroSpear was out of reach, pinned to the meteor by the gravity trap, just as I was. A second possible course of action was to fire the Strafe armor's inertial flight system to convert the energy of the downward fall into tangential propulsion. It would have made a grand Orbital Lair...a Starhaven, if you will...but there were too many variables and too little time to plot out the vectors. That was the trouble with technology, you could do so much with it, if you had time to calculate all the variables involved, and time was something I couldn't spare. Yet the answer was there. Technology. I had become overdependent on technology. First the Strafe Armor, and now the AstroSpear. They weren't even mine to begin with. Had I forgotten that my true prowess wasn't in all the neat toys I owned, but in my inborn talents and wits? A deathtrap for Triton demanded Triton ingenuity. Science lesson, dear reader. The asteroid was passing through the Van Allen belts, which meant that the rock was being charged by all the ions in these radiation belts. Since electric force was a lot stronger than gravitational force, all I had to do was charge up my body with my own electrical power, creating a like charge. Like repels like. The electrical force repelled me from the surface of the meteor, and I was free! I used the Strafe armor rockets to alter my trajectory, braking myself before I too became a falling star. But soon, the asteroid would hit the atmosphere, and punch right through the heart of Khadam, and there was little I could do about it. "INCOMING!" I shouted on the Conclave frequency. It was all up to my cronies to put our defense plan into action. I had expected an underhanded attack like this. They would have less than seconds once the meteor hit the atmosphere to react. And react they did. * * * * All my Conclavers were on the roof of the highest tower on the Citadel, watching the skies for their imminent doom when I signaled them. They gathered around a small-scale model of Khadam on the floor, hands joined. Gerhard Durst, a.k.a. Zone, had extended his zone of power to the top of the tower, enveloping everyone in his red light. "Places everyone!" he barked. "Caryatid, Labyrinthe, go!" The brother and sister team fell into meditation, hand in hand, and a small piece of the Berlin Wall shaped to resemble the meteor rose into the air in front of them. Glyph had inscribed a sympathetic sigil upon it, using magic to link the pebble to the meteor. Whatever affected the model would now affect the real thing. While their powers were at that moment weak against the celestial instrument of doom, as distance closed their power would rise. The gamble was that their combined power would be reach a level that was enough to divert the meteor before it cratered Khadam. They chanted. (Translation from their native Quebecois French below): "Heavenly spirit, comet bright, Thy flame and flesh embodied twice. Done unto one, the seed of night, Mirrored in the heart of iron and ice!" The mock meteor floated high, and began to spin and streak towards the model of Khadam. Zone snapped another order. "Conflicto! Spiral! Now!" Conflicto seized the floating fragment with his extrasensory tactile touch, and mapped a friction coefficient gradient onto the space immediately around it. By placing uneven air friction on the rock, Conflicto generated a sort of sideways "lift" as air passed more smoothly and quickly over one side than the other. From there it was just a matter of basic aerodynamics. Spiral's power added spin to the meteor, further increasing the aerodynamic forces. They had less than two seconds to pull off the trick, once the rock hit the atmosphere. The mages drew strength from the linked circle. The tower glowed with Zone's light. In the streets of Khadam, those who looked up saw a shooting star fall to the east, a Lucifer tumbling from the heavens. The ground shook, a tremor that heralded a new Age, and a sandstorm rose that would do Sultry proud. Then, all was silent. Conflicto broke the silence with a wisecrack: "You know, if I die I'd want it to have been hit by a meteor. I mean, what a way to go!" Caprice rolled her eyes. "Eugene, I'm surprised they haven't given you a Darwin Award yet. You're long overdue for one." "Really? Is that anything like the Nobel Prize?" He grinned with a mischevious glint in his eye that suggested he not only knew what the Darwin Award was, but that he'd personally tried several of the "remove yourself from the gene pool" stunts for which it had been presented. "Besides, Darwin deserves the Darwin award to trying to mess with Da Boss," he chuckled. * * * * Labyrinthe finally located me and returned me Earthside, where I called an emergency meeting of the Conclave of Super-Villains in my new War Room. "This attempt on my life and country cannot go unpunished!" I smashed the podium in anger. "There will be retaliation." "Might I suggest a plan of attack?" said Caryatid. She clicked a button on her remote, and the map projector showed a holographic image of Earth. Khadam territory was marked in fiery red. The image zoomed in on Sector Quebec, in particular the island city of Montreal. "This is my home. This is my land. I do not care for the Anglos who dominate it. We will take it for our own." Zone snorted. "You wish an assault on a city in the Combine? We'd never be able to hold it. Even if it comes to siege...." "Our group there, the Sans Rouge ['without red' - Eds.], still answer to us," said Labyrinthe. "Quebec will become independent, with Khadam's help. Even if it means destroying the city." "Yvan!" Caryatid shook her head at her brother. "Let us not talk of destruction of any part of our land, if we can help it." "But Zone is right," I said. "We cannot hold a siege of a city an ocean away. Without Labyrinthe, it would fail, and our enemies would exploit that weakness by seeking to remove him. No. Any conquest must happen in Africa first." I gritted my teeth. It would mean confrontations with the Eurasian Union and the Moslem Coalition rather than the Combine. "There is a way," said Glyph carefully, "that might satisfy both of you." "Pray tell," I said, intrigued. "We steal the city itself." And we listened to her plan. * * * * [Sunday, July 11th] "Tiara to Triton. I'm in position." "Good. Distraction in thirteen seconds," I said. I kept an eye on her with a little modification to the Strafe sensors and the Conclave pin she wore. The scene played out in a little corner of my vision, and I could almost feel what she felt through the patchlink between my cybernetic implant and the Strafe helmet I carried in my arms. A drop of sweat fell from Ursula, Princess of Monaco's upturned (and presently image-masked) nose. Of course, she was hanging from an elaborate harness in the sub-basement of an enormous secret vault hidden beneath the Vatican Grottos at the time, and she'd been aware that the stress of the cables pulling across her upper body would be extreme, so a little sweat was to be expected. But so was some movement, so she'd chosen to plant herself in a spot away from the motion detectors. Unfortunately, the only such place was at the apex of the special collection's vault, leaving her some eighty-five feet from the floor. It had been the work of four hours just to insinuate herself in place, clambering through ducts that forced her to dislocate most of her ribs and both shoulders at times. But she was a professional. These things were to be expected. You dealt with them, and then you achieved the objective. Since her birth had left her unblessed, or uncursed depending upon your opinion, with the Magene she was forced to develop other attributes. For example, a mastery over her body that allowed her to ignore the pain of her frail human flesh. She was the best in the world. If today's heist went off, she was about to prove it. "Get ready, Tiara. Distraction in five," I said. "Understood." She smiled, knowing that the great game was at hand. Inside the Basilica, and in St. Peter's Square, crowds of the faithful were praying at the first Sunday Mass after the anniversary of Ragnarok. Until I entered. Dressed in full armor and accompanied by four men in immaculate silver grey Sylvester Business Suits with earphones and mirrorshades, I, Derek Radner, the new Chancellor of Khadam walked into the Basilica. My helmet was cradled in the crook of my arm, and the elaborate cloak I wore trailed behind me, a deep crimson and azure. I was loving it. I strode right to the front of the building and stood right before a disbelieving Swiss Guard and a stammering Pontiff. "Please, your Eminence, continue. I would sit, but as you can see, I'd probably crush a pew," I said. Underneath Vatican City, Tiara was far from idle. Her skill with alarm systems served her well; as the alert from above came down and the three armored protectors of the secret vault received word that the Pope was in danger, she activated part two of our plan. The guards were ordered to stay at their posts, but Tiara knew they would be. The distraction was intended merely to engage their attention for a few seconds. While they looked at their helmet readouts in shock, she usurped the security program with a special palmtop and designated the Swiss Guardsmen themselves as Triton, using an energy scan of my armor I'd given her the day before. The vault activated its secondary defenses, disguised and powerful Scytharian Titan-Killer units that strode out of their alcoves, where they had been masquerading as Etruscan terracotta statues. While Tiara smiled and hung from the ceiling, the guardsmen and the androids wiped each other out. The screams of the guards, the howling of particle beams, the bright flashing lights, all were a nice background as she worked on part three, ensuring that her commands released all of the rest of the security before purging the system and deactivating it. Then, seeing that two Titan-Killers remained, she designated them as me, and they obligingly destroyed each other. So far, there was no video of her, and that was how she liked to keep it. Then, as the powerful magnetic clamps buzzed and the great seal released, she reached up with her right hand and pulled the release latch on her harness. Dropping to the floor was the easy part. Activating the inertial shock-pad was simple, and it cushioned her fall in proportion to the distance she dropped. By the time she reached the floor, she was barely falling. Then she walked up to the vault. As she expected, the dropping of the magnetic seal had engaged the mechanical safeguards, and it was quite secure. She reached into the bag strapped to her hip and withdrew the multi-purpose tool she had designed for just such an eventuality. Humming, she fell to work. To say that all hell was on the verge of breaking out would be practicing understatement. The Swiss Guards and Cas Ierulli-Kiris...formerly Castor of EUROPA, now Aegis of the Swiss Guard...stood stiffly, each preparing an attack but unwilling to be the first to throw it. I stood defiantly right in front of the Pope, waiting patiently and saying nothing. Finally the man who was once known as Cardinal Stagliano cleared his throat. "How dare you disturb this sacred event?" "I wasn't aware that wishing to participate in the remembering of an event that killed my predecessors would be so terribly disturbing, your Eminence." I did not allow my smile to flicker. "After all, I am a head of state now, and my duties include representing Khadam in the rest of the world." The guardsmen sputtered. But, before the Pope could say anything to that, he stiffened and blanched visibly. "Of course, there is also business to conduct, while I'm in the vicinity. Don't get all trigger happy, it's just something I think you should hear." I let them stew some more. I nodded to a servant, and he slowly produced an audio disk from his pocket. He handed it to Aegis with infinite care. Aegis looked to the Pope for instructions, and the Pope cleared his throat. "We will hear this message, Chancellor. No harm need come to anyone, agreed?" said the pontiff. "Naturally. Take as long as you want to ensure that it is authentic and harmless." It would only buy more time for the princess. When they were certain that the disk was safe, they played it. It was a recording of my space battle with Solar Max, all of it. I particularly liked this part: "There. I may not hit anything but desert with this rock..." came Laktak's voice clearly. "Like you said, your people may move it off-target...but at least you're going down with the ship." "Not satisfied with potential mass murder, you've gotta throw in a little personal murder, Zachary?" came my voice. I mouthed the words, then let the conversation run to its finish, letting the Pope and those in the crowd who understood English absorb what they just heard. "Let us talk about Solar Max and what he intended to do. You heard it all. He intended to destroy me and my nation with a meteorite, no doubt with sanctions from the Combine. Surely this is no less than a declaration of war!" I shouted to the cameras that surely would have appeared by now, capturing my speech for posterity. "I demand that the United World take action and discipline Solar Max immediately, or else...." Tiara had finessed the final locking mechanism and triumphantly opened the door to the vault. Inside the majestic chamber was a single scroll, its ancient papyrus so brittle yet practically reeking of power. She smiled, and whispered into our link: "I have it." She paused only to leave her trademark: a single pearl. I bought her more time to escape. "Until the Academy of Super-Heroes deals with its errant leader and issues a formal apology to Khadam, I will consider his actions a formal declaration of war, and will of course retaliate as we see fit." Aegis sneered. "You should be punished for your sins, Triton. Why should the world care that a hero sought to deal justice to one who rightfully deserves death?" I laughed. "Look who's talking, Castor. How are you any different from me? I hear you're responsible for many deaths among your classmates, and instead of facing justice, ran off to the Vatican." "I am atoning for my sins," he replied, his voice wavering. I felt my own Magene power starting to surge, just as his eyes began to dance with electrical fire. The bastard was mirroring me. Going for "burnout"? No, he wouldn't be able to manage it, not with the Pope's Anchor effect around. If Labyrinthe had already recovered my AstroSpear, I might have crushed Aegis with a gravity pulse. But it was neither the time nor place for an overt attack. All I wanted was to give Yakquack no end of grief. It was time to leave. "I leave it to you to mete out your brand of justice, Pope-Eye." I twirled my cape, and walked out of there. * * * * [later, back in the War Room] I called for another war conference. "Your Spear, Triton," said Labyrinthe as he warped the symbol of my power back into my gauntlets. He had an indecipherable smile on his face. I felt its heft again, and was pleased that it had survived the impact unscathed. I activated the AstroSpear, turning it again into the three-pronged symbol of my power: the trident. I hadn't settled upon a name for it yet...Seastar, Tristar, AstroTrident. But I would find the right name for it. "What's so funny?" I asked, returning my attention to Yvan. "The desert will soon be in bloom," he announced to the group. My heart leapt, for a moment thinking that the impossible had happened, that my beloved had somehow survived. But I'd seen her body...or what was left of it. I scowled in an attempt to hide my momentary expression of hope. "What, exactly, do you mean by that?" "Triton, are you aware of the history of this place?" he swept out an arm to encompass Khadam. "The ancient history?" "I...I guess I never gave it much thought. Too far south to be part of Carthage, too far north to be part of the old African trading empires, right?" "Too far north a thousand years ago, yes. But not two thousand years ago," Yvan explained, nodding to one of the other CSVers at the table. "Glyph pointed out the relevant historical information to me...from about 500 BCE until about 500 CE, there was a trading empire known as the Garamantes that stretched across the old southern edge of the desert. The Romans tried to conquer them twice and failed, later derisively labeling them nomads and bandits in what you might call 'sour grapes.' They used a great aquifer to irrigate the dry soil, using a rather impressive system of channels and so forth. Then the water ran out, or so they thought, and the Garamantes vanished." I arched an eyebrow. "The point, Yvan?" "The point is magic, as it often is," he smirked. "And this is where Glyph's studies truly fill in the truth of the matter. After his humiliating defeat at the hands of the 'nomads and bandits' of the Garamantes, a Roman general hired a wizard to curse his enemies. The curse was powerful, but long in taking hold. Over centuries, the rich waters of the area sank out of reach, hiding under bedrock as the curse worked its way. It seems that while the curse had weakened over the years, it continued to draw water from any nearby source and hide it, creating perhaps the world's largest source of groundwater." "And TikTak punched a hole in the rocky shield!" I crowed. "Precisely. The old irrigation systems are even functional in some areas, and already the desert is being inundated with water and silt. It could become fertile in a few years...far less if we help it along by transporting in topsoil." I laughed. "So! An unexpected gift from ShakWak Taylor!" My Khadam was growing into the legend I intended it to be. "We have the book, Conclavers. We have a new source of water. We have a collapsiron core that aches for invention. And soon, we will have Montreal." "Oui," Labyrinthe agreed. "But there is still the chance of failure. The Academy of Super-Heroes will seek to stop us." "Oh, I'm counting on it. Perfect time to unleash our little deathtrap, Yvan, the one I call Terminal Icecapades. "I will teach Solar Max what irony means." I sneered. "He tried to take my life with a meteor...I can only retaliate in kind." I pointed at Zone with my AstroSpear. "Assemble our strike force, Gerhard. We have a city to take." ============================================================================ NEXT ISSUE: The foundations of the Pyramid Scheme are in place, and the balance of the world is about to shift. See ASH #29 for the next piece of the puzzle in the Pyramid Scheme! ============================================================================ Author's Note: Matt Rossi III wrote the scenes of Tiara in the Vatican, Dave Van Domelen was responsible for the whole Garamantes explanation, and I (Tony) wrote the rest. For those who haven't heard of them, the Darwin Award is given yearly to individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in taking themselves out of the gene pool. The most famous example (which turns out to be a false urban legend...the Darwin folks ain't perfect) is of a man who strapped rocket boosters to his car and slammed into a cliff at close to the speed of sound. One has to figure that in the ASH Universe, that sort of stunt wouldn't even make it onto the nomination card. For instance, had the world lasted long enough, Conan O'Brien would have gotten the Darwin Award for taunting Thor (see Dvandom Force Annual #2). And thus begins the Pyramid Scheme, which will be the greatest crossover ever in ASH!