InsaneJournal

”They were thorough. Have to give them that. They made sure to take out the gene vault.” Special Agent Cody Walker maneuvers around D.E.O. forensics specialists with his hands casually in the pants pockets of his suit as he approaches Special Agent Michelle Everett, who has been coordinating all these techs. He smiles at her as he nears “You know -- the guards’re saying your friend with the bow was involved. She didn’t give you a heads up on this? I thought you two were buddies!”

“Oh, you’re still here. I forgot with how useless you are.” Everett points a pair of techs to get away from her and go pick through what’s left of the inside of the control room. “You think the Justice League suddenly became good at this sort of thing? Please.”

”Now, now. We do know it was them that did this. I wouldn’t call that good.” Walker follows as Everett abruptly starts moving off down the hall. He carefully steps over what looks like it used to be a hand that got blown out of the control room. “I said thorough.”

“My god, do you think I’m honestly listening to what you say?” As she walks, Everett checks her phone for updates from agents throughout the wing.

“Maybe not word for word, but I think the sound of my voice livens up any situation. Like a good soundtrack in a movie.” Walker jogs his way down the stairwell behind Everett and follows her out onto a lower level of the hospital. “...Hunh.”

Everett and Walker walk out into much more destruction than they have seen elsewhere in the hospital. Before now, the destruction has seemed more precise. This is simply chaos down here. They see major structural damage with collapsed walls, ceilings and floors. The equipment is wrecked without rhyme or reason. Things definitely got out of control down here, and in a moment, they both see one of the factor’s that attributed to that.

“Now, this will put them on the Director’s good side for awhile.” Walker stands next to the large, unconscious body of the General. He uses his foot to turn the General’s head and get a good look at that ugly mug. The needle is still protruding from the back of the General’s thick skull. “They may as well have giftwrapped him.”

Everett touches a finger to her earpiece. “I need a prisoner transport. Now. Make sure it has cryo in the back. And bring it to the west wall, darlings.” Because they are just going to knock a larger hole it in and shove the General out that way.

Walker wanders through the destruction some more, approaching a hole that has been blown through the outer wall. He puts one hand to the side of the hole and leans out to have a look around. “I’m going out this hole,” he calls back to Everett.

“Oh, please do! We’re on a high floor, I hope.”

Walker winks at Everett before lowering himself down. Much to her displeasure, the hole is not too far from the ground. Based on all of the debris out here, that hole was definitely caused by something blowing out rather than blowing their way in. It easily could have been a stray shot from someone like Warhawk or Green Lantern during the fight with the General.

A crushed concrete curb grabs Walker’s attention. Something about it doesn’t look right to him. The way it has been destroyed doesn’t look right for getting smashed up by debris from the wall. Something else came down on it. On a hunch, he puts a foot down into the indent and kneels, finding that his foot and bent leg fits vaguely into the impression. He looks back over his shoulder toward the hole, imagining if this would be around where he might land if he was to take a running jump from that position.

“Hunh.” Straightening up, he touches his finger to his earpiece. “This is Walker. I’m taking a look around the area. We may have a stray.”

A few minutes later, Walker is slipping into his government issue vehicle, a standard black Saint Jazz courtesy of the Cathedral Corporation’s contract with the D.E.O. The transponder in his badge instantly identifies him as an allowed driver, so the engine starts as soon as he moves to put the vehicle into drive. He quickly steers his way out of the hospital parking lot, heading toward his best guess where an escaped clone or anyone would have gone.

He slows down and begins a canvas of the area, looking out of his driver’s side window for anything of note. “Anything you can tell me about a possible escaped clone?”

The man lately known as Jace Tresser sits up from the back and leans forward against the passenger seat. “Nothing. You think one got out and managed to avoid the remote detonation?”

“Don’t know. It’s just a hunch right now.” Walker glances at his rear view mirror, noting the yellow insignias with scales. “...Tresser? I thought you burned that ID in Markovia.”

“Things got desperate. I needed to establish a fast bond with the Justice League. Direct family legacies plug right into their collective mindset. Besides, it was kind of fitting killing Tresser off for good while taking out the Suicide Squad.”

“Well, using the Justice League as a smokescreen worked. Michelle’s suspicious, but there’s really nothing to go on.” Walker knows this investigation won’t go far either. They’ll be in cover-up mode within the hour, and the General will be put in a deep, dark hole somewhere. “...Is that blood?”

“No. I faked a nasty abdominal wound. It turned out to be almost pointless, though. I was nearly blown up for my trouble.”

Walker turns a corner, making a pass through another nearby block. He’s hoping to find signs of a small explosion around here somewhere. “What the hell brought this on, anyway? It’s not like you to go this far off the books.”

“I’m still figuring it out. Retaliation from China for cutting them off from Ryder Evans maybe. It’s something I’ll need to look into next. Do you have your phone? Your other phone? I need put myself back on the board.”

Walker reaches into his inside pocket and pulls out the requested phone. Normally, he doesn’t carry it around on his person. He had a hunch that he should tonight, though. He hands it back, keeping his eyes scanning for anything interesting.

“Cue mnemonic: Robin’s Egg. 567 - Echo - 92372 - Yankee Hotel Bravo - 54356 - Romeo Mike - 7. Comply and reset mnemonic to Spoilsport.”

“White King’s Knight is on board.”

Walker takes his secret Checkmate-only phone back when it feels it tap his shoulder and returns it to his pocket. “Where do you need me to d--” Hearing a click, he looks back to see the backseat empty and no one in sight outside of the moving car.

Walking unseen down an adjacent alley, Steven Drake the White Knight of Checkmate grabs his stashed coat and bag from under a dumpster and exits the other side of the alley with the coat covering his fake wound and D.M.A. insignias and the bag slung over his shoulder. He pulls a knit cap onto his head as he jogs down the steps leading into a train station, where he disappears.