by sstudent_uk
They sat around the large boardroom table in total silence, waiting for the chairman to appear, waiting to hear the results of their latest operations and the profits that would come with them.
The large ornate doors opened to reveal the chairman, he stood in the doorway examining the 9 figures seated at the table. They stood up as he entered to show their respect for the head of this organisation the head of the worlds most insidious and well organised crime syndicate N.E.M.E.S.I.S.
The chairman was a very distinguished looking individual sporting a well-cut grey suit with matching waistcoat and a watch chain was attached. A man who was meticulous in everything from the way he dressed, to the way he spoke, he expected perfection from everyone around and that was the way it was. There was no room for second bests here failure was not an option with any operation.
To fail in this organisation meant. Death and everyone in the room had accepted that the moment they took their positions as heads of the nine separate units that made up the organisation.
The chairman was perhaps around 50 if he was older, he bore his years very well indeed. He had short grey hair with a right hand side parting a style he favoured from his youth. His dark brown eyes, showed a deep wisdom of a man who had experienced much during his life and his full beard gave him the a look of a very learned university professor. Or as some had whispered he resembled images of King Arthur's Merlin the Magician. and judging from his long tenure as the organisations longest serving chairman the comparison was not, without merit. In his 20 years of leader-ship the organisation had become bigger and more powerful than any other organised crime syndicate. In the world even the Mafia and Yakuza did not trifle N.E.M.E.S.I.S. instead their leaders had been forced to join up or be removed from office (A favourite line of the chairman's)
The chairman approached the end of the table and motioned his colleagues to be seated.
"Welcome gentleman today we will begin with discussing a rather unpleasant problem that has up till not been dealt with satisfactorily, I refer to Wonder Woman." No one spoke the subject was one of great debate and had been voted on very recently only the chairman had not been present at the time.
"We already voted on the matter and decided to waste the bitch OK!" All heads turned to face Handro head of the US syndicates. Handro hailed from Texas and as begot people from that state of the US, he was loud, pompous and brash. He took no crap as he was so fond of saying and as was common knowledge saw himself as the next chairman.
"Yes you voted to eliminate Wonder Woman, against my specific instructions to leave her be and while I was absent." The quiet tone used by the Chairman told everyone that he was furious and that was very bad for the recipient.
"We voted unanimously to remove a direct threat to this organisation" Retorted Handro.
"Unanimously was it? Are you sure about that?" The Chairman was now looking directly at Handro his fingers steepled as if in deep contemplation. Those who knew the chairman realised that things were really bad, he was gunning for blood and Handro was to be the target.
"The rules of this council are that any elimination's MUST be carried unanimously that is ALL MEMBERS including myself vote and TOTAL agreement must be reached, you have all acted in a most hasty manner which could have of put this whole organisation at severe risk. "The chairman was infuriated never had the council acted in such a stupid manner in the past.
"Ahh Bullll SssHitt chairman we all agreed to wax Wonder Woman in a special emergency meeting your presence wasn't required the rules allow for that." Handro was getting into his big boss act no one was going to push him around certainly no queer boy Brit chairman.
The chairman waited forming his words carefully before speaking. "The emergency you refer to did not actually exist, not only that but not all of you voted in favour in fact I know one of you was dead set against it."
"That is so chairman San." Kadushi Takasawa spoke, As head of all the Japanese Yakuza and it was said that his family descended from the once great samurai families of ancient Japan. Takasawa was the youngest member of the council but, was well known for his brilliant insight and ability to deal with the vast network of the organisation and was tipped highly to replace the ageing chairman when the time came. At the vote he had been against killing Wonder Woman arguing that to kill through assassination was dishonourable. Wonder Woman was a warrior and she should be faced in battle with honour not killed by a coward hiding in the shadows.
"The attempt to kill Wonder Woman was stupid and ill conceived" Began the chairman, he was quickly cut off by Handro.
"Now wait a minute we agreed that the bitch should be waxed, she's a danger and needed to be taken care of."
"Taken care of." retorted the chairman with disgust "The American disposition for violence and overkill never ceases to amaze me, instead of using a little brain you use brawn. Charging in like the 7th cavalry, tearing the place apart like from a scene from one of your Hollywood movies. This is not a movie and you are not John Wayne or Rambo. We do not eliminate unless all are in agreement having weighed up the consequences first."
"Consequenses, Shonsequences! We remove a threat period." Replied Handro.
"The consequences are quite real I assure you." Began the chairman "Wonder Woman is a symbol of good, truth, justice and all that other nonsense that people believe in. If we had killed her as you all had wanted to do the results would been catastrophic.” The retaliation by EVERY law enforcement agency in the world would have been incalculable and would mean that they would not rest coming after us and we would be unlikely to survive intact for long under such an onslaught." "It is very fortunate for us all that Handros ridiculously ineffectual assassins failed in their bid to kill Wonder Woman and now are housed in a US federal Penitentiary, she however lives and remains a thorn in our side."
"Forgive me chairman San but as assassination is out of the question how do you propose dealing with Wonder Woman?" Asked Takasawa.
"How about asking her to Buckingham palace for tea and crumpets with the Queen." Handro Laughed out loud finding his little quip amusing, no one else laughed.
" What I propose is an altogether quite different approach to our mutual problem, but before I explain consider this." With that the chairman produced a chess piece in his hand. "In a game of chess the players have an equal size army to move around the board, the winner is decided by who moves his pieces the most skilfully. Through cunning and knowing when to sacrifice pieces to achieve a goal. In our game with the world authorities the balance has been upset their queen i.e. Wonder Woman who has been used very effectively against us. By removing the queen of your opponent, you deprive him of the most powerful piece on the board and victory is a very a strong possibility. If you than prevent your opponent from consolidating his remaining forces the advantage is then yours."
The chairman paused for dramatic effect "In effect gentleman I propose we remove Wonder Woman from the game, Not by assassination but by a more subtle method."
"I propose that we capture Wonder Woman."
The whole room had gone silent, the chairman paused for a moment but before he could continue Handro began to speak. "you mean instead of wasting the bitch you wanna grab her?"
The chairman smiled at Handro thinking how much he'd enjoy getting rid of this idiot American. "Precisely, and not only capture her but also discover the source of her extraordinary powers."
"Excuse me chairman San but how do you propose to execute such an audacious plan." Takasawa spoke for the whole room, it was indeed an ambitious plan but details were, needed.
The chairman was ready for this "My friends the threat from wonder woman is very acute and her removal is of paramount importance to retain the integrity of this organisation. "Everybody nodded at this, even Handro who remained quiet smoking his very large cigar. "To achieve this I have taken the liberty of retaining the services of someone you are all familiar with." With that the chairman pressed a button on his chair, a few seconds later the large doors opened to admit a solitary figure, he stood in the doorway for a moment scouring the room with the attention of a hawk. Then he slowly walked towards the table and the council.
"Gentlemen I believe you are acquainted with Mr Kent." Everybody nodded, indeed they were Mr Kent had a reputation that had preceded him. He was notorious for his work a consummate professional was known more commonly by his code-name-- THE COLLECTOR!
The chairman turned to the council "I asked Mr Kent here to provide an overview and analysis of the feasibility of capturing Wonder Woman. Nothing, I repeat Nothing, has been finalised and no action will be taken unless we are all in agreement." All heads nodded their approval. "Please begin Mr Kent."
Mr Kent began his briefing "Thank you Mr chairman. Gentlemen the challenge set before us today is how to deal effectively with Wonder Woman, the chairman has requested a feasibility report of the possibility of capturing her, the short the answer to that is YES it is very feasible." All members of the council remained quiet absorbing every word that Mr Kent spoke.
"Although she possess extraordinary powers which are in themselves quite formidable, she is not invulnerable, To illustrate I would like to show you a report compiled 50 years ago by the German SS in which it details an operation that was laid on to capture Wonder Woman, IT...."
Kent was suddenly cut off by Handro "Now wait a minute are you telling us that the only information you have on wonder woman is 50 years old There is no way that she can be the same woman she'd have to be at least 70 something."
Kent was unfazed by this, he knew that convincing these people would not be easy and the facts were to say the least startling. Wonder Woman had powers that were unique, was it possible that she also did not age as normal humans do? It would be just, another example of her of her extraordinary powers. "I realise that it sounds inconceivable, but question the abilities that she has displayed over the years is her remaining young any more startling? But lets assume it is another wonder woman for a moment, she still possess the same powers as detailed by the SS. The real bonus for us though gentlemen is that the report not only details how she was captured but also contains some of secrets to her powers and therefore her Achilles heal."
Kent then went into the basics of her lasso of truth, her bullet deflecting brace lets and her special belt. "The belt is the key to her strength, once removed, Wonder Woman's strength is no longer present she reverts to a normal woman."
Kent paused for a moment to allow the ramifications of what he was saying to be absorbed. "The Germans had only crude drugs in their time with which to capture her and keep her under control. Today we have drugs and devices that will allow us to easily overcome her powers and skills, in short not only is capturing Wonder Woman feasible her containment after capture can be guaranteed 100%."
Kent nodded to the Chairman indicating that he had finished his briefing. "Thank you Mr Kent, my friends the time has come to decide if this action is to be implemented, but before we do are there any questions?"
There were none, everyone new that Kent was the man for the job. His briefing had been detailed enough to point out that regardless weather this was the same Wonder Woman from 50 years ago her vulnerabilities were exactly the same.
"You will now vote gentlemen" Ordered the chairman all heads turned to the large screen on the wall and slowly a number of lights appeared indicating the votes. When all nine had lit up the chairman spoke. "Thank you gentlemen it seems that Operation Frauline 2 is a GO"
It had been a long day for Becca, the debrief of her last assignment had taken longer than expected, more and more questions were being asked about her association with Wonder Woman, where did she come from? How did she know you were there? This surprised Becca the IADC (Inter Agency Defence Command) had for many years just accepted that Wonder Woman was always there and had help solve many mysteries and missions for them. She decided that the interest was not sinister more of a wanting to know more about their mysterious ally. Returning to apartment Becca began to prepare for evening out with Steve Trevor he had invited her to dinner at his favourite restaurant "A welcome back celebration." he had said
As she undressed, she heard a noise from her bathroom, approaching the door she was suddenly jumped by two men in ski masks. Becca kicked out at one her foot sending him flying against the bathroom wall, but before she could react to the other one he raised a small pistol pushed against her neck and it made a hissing noise. Becca's world suddenly became a mass of vivid colours and strange sounds, her legs became like jelly and everything whirled around her. The attacker with the pistol quickly scooped her up and lay her on her bed. "She's a right she cat isn't she?" his associate having recovered nodded "Yeah and quite a looker." The first attacker looked down at Becca "The drug will keep her incapacitated for only a few minutes better put her out." The second attacker nodded in agreement produced a large white pad and placed over Becca's mouth and nose. Even In her drugged state she recognised the repugnant odour of Chloroform and tried to fight it off but her reactions were slow and uncoordinated and she could do nothing to prevent herself falling into the black abyss. The attackers nodded in satisfaction and then began to tie up their beautiful captive.
The collector looked down upon his unconscious captive, she was indeed very lovely, Rebecca Edwards of the IADC one of their, top agents and friend of Wonder Woman. Yes she would indeed be the bait to lure his target into his web and then to capture her which would be the pinnacle of his career. His associates had explained how she had put a real fight. That was to have been expected, Miss Edwards was regarded by NEMESIS as a potential threat as well. Here now here was an opportunity to rid themselves of two threats. Two birds with one stone so to speak. Yes she was very attractive, he figured she was about 6ft, tall for a woman with a very well formed figure, very prominent breasts, shapely hips. Yes the collector decided I shall, add you to my collection when this is over. He checked her bonds, A nice hog tie was in order here to ensure she didn't go anywhere, and a sheet strip and tape gag to keep her quiet. All was ready for the final showdown.
Becca swam slowly towards the light, her whole body seemed to defy her commands and it was a slow exhausting swim to reach the surface and LIGHT! Her eyes hurt, her head thumped like a drum and her mouth was so dry. She tried to move, but her whole body defied her, still very groggy she groaned and sank back into the abyss.
Becca had no conception of how long it had been since the men had attacked, her senses were now slowly coming back on line and the recognition of her surroundings began to take shape. Her mind was still foggy from the drugs they had given her but her strength and co-ordination were returning, for all the good that they were. She realised that, she was tied up very tightly, her wrists and ankles were painfully tight, and circulation was beginning to diminish. Becca looked around she was laying in the middle of what appeared to be an old warehouse the old packing crates around her confirmed her perceptions. Who had grabbed her and why? These questions seemed unimportant for the moment, getting free however was priority. Becca had no idea when her captors would return for her she had to move fast, looking around she noticed some large slithers of broken glass that had fallen down from she guessed an over head skylight. Slowly and painfully Becca squirmed to wards this glass and the hope of cutting her self free.
It seemed to take a lifetime to move the few feet of so towards the glass, the way she was tied was obviously designed to restrict any attempts to move but move she did to the glass and release. The largest slither of glass was about 10 cms long and very jagged, carefully she picked it up and began to awkwardly cut the rope that held her legs to he wrists. Once cut the relief was almost overwhelming and the cramps that she had begun to feel slowly subsided. Next she began to cut at her wrist bonds; this was difficult and took time slowly very slowly until at last------the ropes around her wrists came away. Massaging her wrists to return some circulation, Becca proceeded to cut her ankle and thigh ropes. Lastly the double gag, the tape hurt as it came off and the sheet strip that had bitten so deeply into her mouth was a welcome relief. She breathed deeply and slowly stood up. Her legs were very weak but she that getting out of the warehouse was her next priority and there was only one real way to do that. Becca Edwards twirled and in a blinding light became WONDER WOMAN.
The Collector had been watching Becca with great interest, since regaining consciousness, she had examined her surroundings. As he could tell from the look on her face begin to formulate an escape plan. Her solution was not unexpected, the conveniently left glass allowed her to very slowly cut herself free. He waited knowing that any minute Wonder Woman would appear to rescue her long time friend, smiling and was she in for a surprise. His smile soon disappeared upon what he saw next Becca Edwards having released her self began to turn on the spot, t here was an explosion? Of some sort and then there stood!!???? Wonder Woman???? Yes it was the target had arrived.
The Collectors intense surprise gave way to the realisation that his quarry had suddenly appeared, quickly he checked to ensure the VCR's were running he had to get all this to watch later. He picked up a walkie talkie and spoke quickly "All units this is 1 quarry is in I say again quarry is in." The Collector moved quickly to the door (IT WAS TIME TO PLAY)
Wonder Woman looked around for an exit, moving slowly around the packing cases,s he saw a large glass window and moved towards it. Above her quietly observing a lone figure watched her every move, he spoke one word into his hand set "Cocoon." The sound of sliding metal shutters echoed through out the warehouse.
Wonder Woman was suddenly startled by the around her as metal sheet upon metal sheet fell down covering the windows including the one she was heading for. All went suddenly dark as the outside light, was blotted out. Wonder Woman froze her instincts and senses now on full alert and screaming loudly in her ears TRAP! TRAP! The inside lights suddenly came on bathing the warehouse in an eerie white glow. Wonder Woman moved around the cases very cautiously her mind racing to find answers to questions, that were not forthcoming.
As she came out from behind some cases she noticed a figure standing in front of her. he stepped out from the shadow, he was about 5ft 11 she figured with a young face. He smiled "Welcome Wonder Woman I've been so looking forward to making your acquaintance."
Wonder woman was in no mood for sarcasm "what have you done with Becca Edwards?"
The figures smile remained "I think the question should be What have you done with Becca Edwards, Wonder Woman?" and with that the figure did a slow impression of a twirl and laughed.
Wonder Woman's eyes widened with a deep realisation "He Knows!!"
"I have some friends who want to see you out of the way, you've become something of a liability to them over the years."
"So you're here to kill me is that it?" wonder woman was acutely aware his confident demeanour which meant he was sure of his position.
"Something like that." The figure replied and pulled out a pistol and began to fire at her.
Wonder woman moved to deflect the bullets and as the shots rang out and richoched off her bracelets her senses screamed that this wasn't right, all this intricate preparation to lure her here, t he abduction of Becca Edwards, the conveinient glass and now after all that,t o just try shooting her ?? It wasn't right it wasn't........... Wonder Woman suddenly felt a stinging sensation in her right thigh a large dart protruded and she began to feel very dizzy.
As soon as the dart had struck the collector stopped shooting his six rounds had been effortlessly deflected, just as he had expected, but he hadn't meant to hit her. But to hold her attention while his associates hit her with the ultra quiet tranquilliser guns with drug darts tipped with a powerful drug that would put a charging elephant out in seconds elephant out in seconds.
A second dart hit her in the back and Wonder Woman fell to the ground. Standing over her the collector was both surprised and pleased that she wasn't completely unconcious." no wonder woman I had no intentions to kill you but simply to capture you and add you to my collection of very special women."
Wonder woman fell to the floor the world around her span like a crazy merry go round, her arms and legs were like lead and she couldn't will her self to move. Images blurred in and out of focus. She could just make out a voice talking to her, telling her he was not going to kill her. This did not make her fell any better, This man was dangerous probably one the most dangerous foes she had ever encountered ,He was a hunter and worse he knew her secret as well. She noticed him stand over her then bend down to add the coup de gras to his victory. The smell of chloroform assaulted her senses and Wonder Woman fell into blackness.
The collector stood back looking down at his unconscious captive, after weeks of preparation he now had his trophy Wonder Woman was his. Slowly he removed her bracelets, tiara and her belt that held her lasso. As a touch of irony the collector decided to tie up Wonder Woman with her own lasso and then added a ball gag for good measure.
The Chairman sat at the head of the council table looking very pleased with himself "Gentlemen I have some excellent news from Mr Kent." He then turned looked towards the large wall screen and the image of Kent appeared.
The chairman spoke for the Council "Your report Mr Kent!"
Kent looked at the council at each impassive face in turn, slowly forming his words upon this historic occaision and making them wait, raising the suspense "Mr Chairman, Gentlemen I am happy to inform you that OPERATION FRAULINE 2 has been a complete success." The camera then panned upon the unconscious and bound form of wonder woman.
"Wonder Woman is our PRISONER."
The Chairman sat alone in the council chamber, lost in his own thoughts, the operation to capture Wonder Woman had gone better than planned. Mr Kent was as good if not better than his reputation gave him credit for. The problem now was what to do with Wonder Woman, initially just taking her out of circulation would have been enough, but the council were now demanding that she be terminated, despite the chairman's warnings of a world wide retaliation by every police, intelligence and other law enforcement agencies around the world. The demands were of course led by the redoutable Mr Handro who saw himself as the next chairman.
As he pondered his next move the large screen came to life and there stood Kent. "You wanted to speak to me Mr Chairman." The Chairman turned to face the screen "How does the interrogation progress Mr Kent?"
Kent paused for a moment before speaking somewhat surprised by the question "I have already given you my report to date sir there is nothing more to add at this moment in time." He could see that the Chairman had something on his mind.
"We have a problem Mr Kent it appears that some on council want to have Wonder Woman Eliminated and at this time I am only just managing to keep them off your back."
Kent nodded in understanding "Would the demands be led by our Mr Handro by any chance?" The chairman smiled at this question "Indeed it would, he is a very dangerous man and not one who can be easily controlled, watch yourself my friend."
"I will but you watch your arse too Handro is after your chairmanship and I doubt he'll care a fig who he treads on to get it, Kent out."
Kent sat back from the video phone, this was indeed a change in the game, the council had voted in his plan to capture Wonder Woman, and now they wanted to execute her in cold blood! That of course was out of the question. Whatever Kent was, he wasn't a murderer and they would have to get by him before anyone harmed his captive.
He walked into an adjoining room and there strapped to a medical couch lay the unconscious form of wonder woman. The past 48 hours had been one of real pleasure and surprise for Kent, since her capture he had conducted an in depth interrogation, covering her life, adventures and as her other life as Becca Edwards. Initially she had been unwilling to cooperate but the use of her own lasso of truth soon had her unburdening herself in no time at all. She spoke of her time during the second world war and her battle against the Nazis, she told of her abduction by them and how they subjected her to interrogation to discover her secrets, she spoke of a raid on her home of Paradise Island by Nazi commandos and how they had subjugated the entire population of women, and how she had managed to recapture her Island home. She spoke of her decision to remain in the states and retain her identity as Becca Edwards and to fight crime and protect the weak where she could. She told of the secrets of her weapons; the lasso of truth, her bracelets. The magic belt the source of her strength and her tiara. And finally the location of her home of Paradise island, it's Latitude and minutes and Longitude and minutes and that it was shielded by a special holographic screen that made it undetectable by outsiders.
When the interrogation was complete Kent had switched off the VCR recorders and before removing the Lasso that was wrapped around Wonder Woman, told her. "Wonder Woman you will forget that this conversation ever happened; you will not remember it, you will forget this interrogation." Wonder Woman weakly replied that she would not remember and then She subsequently passed out from exhaustion. Kent now had fluids and vitamins being given to her intravenously to ensure she didn't become ill.
The operation so far had been a complete success Kent had managed to aquire all the information he needed, to proceed with phase two, the details of which the Chairman had decided not to share with the council. The capture of Wonder Woman's home and the exploitation of their powers was indeed a very tempting target ,but Kent Wondered with individuals like Handro around maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.
Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice movement on the couch "Uhhhh". Kent looked down to see Wonder Woman regain consciousness "Welcome back I thought I was going to lose you."
"Didn't know you cared." She replied sounding very weak.
Before Kent could say anything more his radio sprang to life with the sound of gun fire in the back ground and a voice "One this three we are under attack, I say again we are under attack!" Kent looked down at his captive and realised who it was that was attacking, one name passed through his mind---------"HANDRO." He had come to kill Wonder Woman.
The gunfire grew louder Kent realised that Handro's men had arrived in force and his small sercurity team would be no match for them, he picked the radio "3 this one 1 Disengage I say again Disengage, let them through, Head to rendevous 5 will meet you there acknowledge!" There was a pause before Kent received the acknowledgement, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least he could avoid a blood bath with the unnesscercery deaths of his men. he turned to Wonder Woman and unstrapped her. "can you stand?" he asked She nodded "I think so." Kent grabbed a small bag from under the couch "Look we have to get out of here and fast, there are some people heading this way and they have only one intention, to kill you, so let's move." Kent helped Wonder Woman up and directed her into another room, there he produced a small hand set and used it to open a section of wall leading to a secret chamber. "This way they'll be here any moment." as they entered the wall closed behind them.
They headed quickly down a long semi lighted tunnel. "Right now listen Wonder Woman and listen good, this tunnel stretches for about 2 kilometres and opens up into a dense forest. That will give us good cover and we'll have to move fast it won't take them long to discover that we've got away." Wonder woman looked at Kent she was confused "I thought you were the one out to kill me, what is going on?"
"I'll explain later but for now let's get going."
They moved rapidly to the end of the tunnel, Kent was impressed by Wonder Woman's remarkable recuperative powers she kept with him quite well. Reaching the end of the tunnel they came upon an old trunk inside Kent pulled out a small backpack and a small automatic rifle. He handed wonder woman a green overall "You'd better put this on your outfit is a little loud ,this'll make you less of a target.” She dressed quickly and they moved into the woods.
"It's my guess that they'll have hunter teams after us before long we'll need to evade them for at least the next 8-10 hours."
"Why?" Wonder woman asked
"Because then the cavalry should arrive and we can get away to safety."
The two of them moved quickly deeper into the woods and kept moving at a rapid pace. After about 2 hours Kent called a quick break. Wonder Woman watched him, unsure of his motives. One minute he abducts her and keeps her a drugged prisoner and now he's protecting her? What the hell was going on? Kent stood up "OK let's move!"
Wonder Woman remained sitting "NO! I'm not going anywhere until you tell me just what is going on here."
Kent was in no mood for arguments nor did he have the time for a show down.
"Alright I'll tell you but on the move, come on." Once again the pair headed off at a rapid pace Kent began to explain as best he could.
"The truth is Wonder woman I was assigned to capture you. NOT to kill you, my employers felt at the time that to eliminate you would bring about terrible repercussions from the worlds police and security services. You with me so far?"
Wonder Woman nodded. "Right then." Kent continued "It appears as though a small faction of my employers decided to change the game and instead of being satisfied with you being held as our prisoner and out of the game so to speak. They decided they wanted you would be better off dead. You're too much of a threat to their business interests."
"If that is true why are you protecting me?" Wonder woman demanded.
Kent stopped and turned towards her "Because I'm an abduction and Interrogation specialist not an assassin! I f I were we wouldn't be having this conversation. I've seen enough death and destruction in my time Wonder Woman, I only kill when I have to. But that does not include helpless Women and children, nor killing someone who is inherently good and keeps the scales form tipping too far into the realms of chaos. Now I think we'd better keep moving." With that, the two headed off again.
Kent checked his watch they had been on the move for almost 6 hours now. So far, they had not detected any pursuit but he knew that were there. He pulled out a small radio from his pocket "Sanctuary 1, this is runner do you read?" a slight pause and all he received was static he tried again "sanctuary 1 this is runner do you read?" He was pleased to hear a response "Runner this is sanctuary 1 heading to rendezvous ETA 30 minutes over." Kent acknowledged the signal and then he and wonder woman headed east again.
As they neared the rendezvous area Kent and Wonder woman sensed they were being watched they approached the area cautiously, Three figures dressed in black suddenly appeared Kent trained his automatic on them ready to fire.
"Do not shoot Kent San!" the leader of the three slowly raised his hand and pulled off the black mask revealed Kadushi Takasawa head of the Japanese Yakuza. He bowed to Kent "I am pleased to see you Kent San, the Chairman instructed me to ensure yours and Wonder Woman's safe arrival." He turned and bowed to Wonder woman "I am honoured to meet you at long last Wonder Woman." She bowed in return. Kent bowed, he was pleased to see Takasawa knowing he was one of the Chairman's most trusted friends. They headed towards a clearing where a small helicopter had landed, once onboard it lifted off and shot away at high speed.
Some hours later it landed on the outskirts of Washington DC Kent helped Wonder Woman off and walked her over to an old deserted diner. Inside he handed her a small bag "This contains your bracelets and other stuff." He explained "Give me 5 minutes to get clear and head into town you'll be quite safe Handros men are still occupied with searching for us elsewhere."
Wonder Woman did not know what to say other than to nod in agreement, for a moment their eyes met and somehow they both knew that someday in the near future they would meet again. Kent had kept his word not to harm her and had decided that it would be best for all to release her. Takasawa had concurred with Kent that it was the best course of action was to let Wonder woman go. She was after all a warrior and there was no honour in killing a fellow warrior in cold blooded besides he thought Handro was a fool and only a fool follows another fool. With that Kent left and headed back towards the Helicopter. He knew she'd be safe now, The Chairman had informed him by radio that only a few council members had actually followed Handro some had decided in the end that it wasn't so great an idea after all. In effect, Handro had lost a lot of backing once word had spread that he had failed to kill Wonder Woman yet again. Now it was time, to wrap things up.
The council had convened Handro sat in the Chairman's place looking at all the other members, he spoke loudly and forcefully. "It's only a matter of time now before my men kill that Wonder bitch and that scumbag Kent, they can't evade us for ever.” And as for the Chairman, Well he's had his day it's time for new blood and I claim my right to stand for chairmanship who challenges that right?" Before anyone could answer the large doors to the chamber opened to reveal The Chairman, he entered followed by Takasawa, Kent and 10 guards armed with automatic rifles.
"I believe your standing for my position is rather premature Mr Handro." The Chairman spoke quietly and deliberately he addressed the council.
"Gentlemen Operation Frauline 2 is now terminated Wonder Woman has been released and you Mr Handro are being removed from office along with Mr Coslo, and Mr Hyam, who conspired with you to murder her and Mr Kent here ,further you are charged with acting outside the rulings of this council and conspiring to overthrow my office." The Chairman directed his guards towards Handro and his two allies. Then continued "You know the price for failure in this organisation Mr Handro you had your chance for power and killing Wonder Woman and failed. Now you and your associates will pay the ultimate price, remove them and ensure their bodies are never found." With that, the three men were frog marched out of the chamber by the guards.
The Chairman turned to Kent. "Your actions in this matter have been beyond exemplary my friend, I will be requiring your services again in the near future and rest assured you will get a large bonus now go and get cleaned up we will talk later." Kent shook the Chairman's hand, bowed to Takasawa and left his mission was over. For now at least.
The Chairman turned to the council "Be it known that from now on the council will convene with every one present, there will be no more unilateral actions by anyone. Also as is my right I appoint Mr Takasawa as my air apparent to my Chairmanship upon my death or retirement. Lastly we require some 3 new members for the council so that we can get on, it is business as usual gentlemen."
Kent sat watching the videos of Wonder Woman's capture and interrogation. Knowing her secret identity now, he would be able to keep track of her movements as Becca Edwards. His instinct however was to destroy the tapes and forget the whole incident. A nagging indescribable feeling told him to prepare to meet up with Wonder woman again soon. Something was in the air the beginning of something very big and very dangerous only time would show him what form it would take.
THE END ?
COMING SOON...
THE TAKING OF PARADISE ISLAND!