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Chapter 254: The Legendary Captain
2023-10-23 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
Deherein, one of Steppenwolf's secret Boom Tube Towers.
The automatic door to the base's watchtower slid open, and a Deherein soldier walked in.
"Hey, Frank, what's the good stuff you're looking at? Let your bro have a look."
The man called Frank waved his hand. "Cut the crap, Jack. I'm on duty. Haven't you heard? People are fighting their way in."
"What? Attacking Deherein? The Americans?" Jack was surprised. "But that shouldn't have anything to do with us, right? I mean, we're just logistics. Besides, this is a secret base. No one's going to find us here."
"Of course, I think so. And I did some asking around. It seems there are only a few people to worry about. A Superman, a Flash, and a few other weirdos."
"Ha, Deherein is a big place. There's no way we'd be unlucky enough to run into them, right?"
"Yeah, and this base is top secret." Frank sighed deeply. "You're a good brother, so I'm only telling you this. After this job, I'm planning to get out. I mean, who really wants to work for aliens? I've already contacted my people on the outside. My wife and kids have been evacuated. Once this job is over, I'm gone."
"Oh, that's great, Frank. I'm really happy for you," Jack said. "You deserve it."
"Yeah, finally getting out of this damn swamp. It's the last day. We just need to chill, drink some tea, and ride it out. What could possibly go wrong?"
"Yeah, yeah, we've finally made it. We'll soon be able to... huh? Frank, what's that over there?"
He pointed to an indicator light on the watchtower's dashboard.
"Let me see... shit, it's an enemy attack alarm! And it says the enemy is right here?"
Frank turned his head in confusion, then froze as if he'd been electrocuted.
He saw the big blue guy with the 'S' on his chest, cape fluttering, floating outside his watchtower window with a smile.
"The Justice League has commenced its operation against the Boom Tube Towers," Pal's voice reported. "Based on the Justice League's team assignments, the Boom Tube Tower locations, and their defensive status, intelligent prediction estimates that all three Boom Tube Towers will be under Justice League control in approximately ten minutes and thirty-two seconds."
"Probability of success: 99.2%."
"There's still a 0.8% chance of failure," Orin Vale muttered.
Superman, of course, had the fastest built-in leveling cheat. On top of that, Supergirl and The Flash were both essentially trained by Orin Vale.
Kara's ability was a whole tier stronger than her original-canon counterpart at the same point in time, and she also had an enhanced suit and a full set of alien weapons. The Flash's ability, under Orin Vale's guidance, was already approaching its peak; he could totally solo-kill one or two New Gods if he encountered them during a mission.
Putting others aside, Orin Vale couldn't for the life of him figure out where The Flash's probability of failure came from. Did he twist his ankle while running?
"Williams... sir, is this really okay?"
At that moment, an A.R.G.U.S. Agent following behind him asked in a low voice, "I mean, this operation of ours is unauthorized, right? This seems completely different from the plan Headquarters gave us..."
"Shh, cut the crap."
Before the agent could finish his question, another agent immediately cut him off.
"You've never heard of him, have you? This is the legendary Captain Williams! If you knew his deeds, you wouldn't be asking such a stupid question. Plans are rigid, but people are flexible. We can't contact Headquarters right now, so we just need to follow the captain's orders."
And their team leader, Captain Mike Williams—that is, Orin Vale—mused for a moment.
*Could it be that your link with Headquarters was disabled by the captain himself?*
*How else am I supposed to make you all obediently follow orders?*
The "Mike Williams" currently in front of them was not, in fact, Orin Vale's true self, nor could it be considered a clone; it was just a high-speed afterimage.
Before his death, Trickster had given Orin Vale a lot of valuable information. The Boom Tube Towers were one piece. Blocking the channel to prevent the main forces of Apokolips from descending was the most urgent task. Once the Apokolips fleet arrived, the scale and difficulty of the war would skyrocket. Even if they could win, it would inevitably be accompanied by massive global casualties, causing incalculable damage.
However, the Justice League was already handling that part, so Orin Vale was relatively at ease.
The second matter that needed to be dealt with was the Parademon problem.
In the large-scale wars of Apokolips, Parademons were always the main force. Also learned from Trickster, Steppenwolf had established a Parademon processing factory within Deherein. If this factory wasn't taken out, it would continuously produce Parademons during the war. Even the Justice League would be bogged down by the Parademons' swarm tactics.
However, Orin Vale's main attention was on his true form, which was handling a more important mission. So, he let the high-speed afterimage lead this A.R.G.U.S. team to take care of this part.
A.R.G.U.S. was, in a way, the equivalent of an Earth Defense Force, a representative of humanity's own power. It really wasn't justifiable for them to be constantly feeding kills and slacking off.
And the team soon discovered that the style of today's "Legendary Captain" seemed quite different from their previous leaders.
The agents had long since become accustomed to the consistent bullshit passed down from the leadership since they joined A.R.G.U.S.. A large group of elite A.R.G.U.S. team leaders, headed by Amanda Waller, had always adopted the classic hands-off command style during missions to date. Their command pattern was nothing more than this:
"You, go to the sky. You, to the ground. And you, you're on commentary. What? You ask what I'm doing? I'll be up on my perch, enjoying the breeze..."
The track record under this leadership model never disappointed; A.R.G.U.S.'s operations had always performed consistently... they consistently sucked.
To briefly summarize, it was basically: The leadership expresses full confidence in their firepower. The leadership orders them to charge. The leadership pops the champagne mid-battle. The leadership realizes it was all useless. The leadership panics, bails, and runs. All the grunts on the front line get sacrificed.
LMAO, it had never once worked.
Then today, this legendary leader suddenly appeared. He led the charge from the front, and when there was trouble, he was genuinely the first to act. This threw everyone off so much they were a little lost.
Captain Mike Williams's performance today could only be described with one word: godlike.
First, he took advantage of the Parademons' low intelligence, leading the team to ambush them with traps, which took out several Parademons and allowed them to seize their weapons. He successfully infiltrated the Parademon factory, killing enemies and looting along the way. The firearms on the agents' waists, which were basically just fire pokers, were all swapped out for Parademon weaponry, giving even the regular team members a fighting chance against the Parademons.
It was a perfect infiltration. The team members' deepest impression was that they were always in the enemy's blind spots. Almost every Parademon they encountered along the way had its back to them, and as they advanced, they always managed to perfectly avoid every guard post and every line of sight.
It was as if... as if the captain had precognition, like he had a wallhack that showed him every enemy's position and field of view.
Of course, if Orin Vale knew what they were thinking, he might say, "Be more confident. Drop the 'as if'."
*Your captain is literally using a wallhack.*
The unbelievably smooth operation made Captain Mike's image grow ever larger in the hearts of the agents. It was no exaggeration to say that if they went back and told the story of what happened today, the other agents in the Organization would probably just shake their heads and say, "Don't believe or spread rumors. Where would our shitty organization find such a god-like leader? Only in your dreams..."
They fought their way into the Central Control Room without triggering a single alarm. Under Captain Mike's direction, the squad breached from both sides simultaneously. They used implosion grenades confiscated from the Parademons to open the way, then stormed in, unleashing a torrent of energy beams.
Although A.R.G.U.S. management was moronic, there were still quite a few capable people among the agents below. As elites, the team members' mobility and marksmanship were on point. The Parademons and the few Apokolips minions operating the consoles in the Central Control Room were all killed before they could even react.
"Lock down the system and terminate the production line," Agent Mike ordered, striding in first. "The factory should have a core reactor for power. We're going to overload it and blow this place sky-high."
"Understood, Captain!"
The agents already regarded him as a god and would execute any command without the slightest hesitation.
Forget the fact that comms with A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters were down. Even if they weren't, the captain's orders were way more reliable than anything from the idiots at the Command Center.
The agents immediately fanned out, and soon, one of them cried out in astonishment.
"Captain!" someone said in surprise. "Y-you have to see this."
(end of chapter)
2023-10-23 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
Deherein, one of Steppenwolf's secret Boom Tube Towers.
The automatic door to the base's watchtower slid open, and a Deherein soldier walked in.
"Hey, Frank, what's the good stuff you're looking at? Let your bro have a look."
The man called Frank waved his hand. "Cut the crap, Jack. I'm on duty. Haven't you heard? People are fighting their way in."
"What? Attacking Deherein? The Americans?" Jack was surprised. "But that shouldn't have anything to do with us, right? I mean, we're just logistics. Besides, this is a secret base. No one's going to find us here."
"Of course, I think so. And I did some asking around. It seems there are only a few people to worry about. A Superman, a Flash, and a few other weirdos."
"Ha, Deherein is a big place. There's no way we'd be unlucky enough to run into them, right?"
"Yeah, and this base is top secret." Frank sighed deeply. "You're a good brother, so I'm only telling you this. After this job, I'm planning to get out. I mean, who really wants to work for aliens? I've already contacted my people on the outside. My wife and kids have been evacuated. Once this job is over, I'm gone."
"Oh, that's great, Frank. I'm really happy for you," Jack said. "You deserve it."
"Yeah, finally getting out of this damn swamp. It's the last day. We just need to chill, drink some tea, and ride it out. What could possibly go wrong?"
"Yeah, yeah, we've finally made it. We'll soon be able to... huh? Frank, what's that over there?"
He pointed to an indicator light on the watchtower's dashboard.
"Let me see... shit, it's an enemy attack alarm! And it says the enemy is right here?"
Frank turned his head in confusion, then froze as if he'd been electrocuted.
He saw the big blue guy with the 'S' on his chest, cape fluttering, floating outside his watchtower window with a smile.
"The Justice League has commenced its operation against the Boom Tube Towers," Pal's voice reported. "Based on the Justice League's team assignments, the Boom Tube Tower locations, and their defensive status, intelligent prediction estimates that all three Boom Tube Towers will be under Justice League control in approximately ten minutes and thirty-two seconds."
"Probability of success: 99.2%."
"There's still a 0.8% chance of failure," Orin Vale muttered.
Superman, of course, had the fastest built-in leveling cheat. On top of that, Supergirl and The Flash were both essentially trained by Orin Vale.
Kara's ability was a whole tier stronger than her original-canon counterpart at the same point in time, and she also had an enhanced suit and a full set of alien weapons. The Flash's ability, under Orin Vale's guidance, was already approaching its peak; he could totally solo-kill one or two New Gods if he encountered them during a mission.
Putting others aside, Orin Vale couldn't for the life of him figure out where The Flash's probability of failure came from. Did he twist his ankle while running?
"Williams... sir, is this really okay?"
At that moment, an A.R.G.U.S. Agent following behind him asked in a low voice, "I mean, this operation of ours is unauthorized, right? This seems completely different from the plan Headquarters gave us..."
"Shh, cut the crap."
Before the agent could finish his question, another agent immediately cut him off.
"You've never heard of him, have you? This is the legendary Captain Williams! If you knew his deeds, you wouldn't be asking such a stupid question. Plans are rigid, but people are flexible. We can't contact Headquarters right now, so we just need to follow the captain's orders."
And their team leader, Captain Mike Williams—that is, Orin Vale—mused for a moment.
*Could it be that your link with Headquarters was disabled by the captain himself?*
*How else am I supposed to make you all obediently follow orders?*
The "Mike Williams" currently in front of them was not, in fact, Orin Vale's true self, nor could it be considered a clone; it was just a high-speed afterimage.
Before his death, Trickster had given Orin Vale a lot of valuable information. The Boom Tube Towers were one piece. Blocking the channel to prevent the main forces of Apokolips from descending was the most urgent task. Once the Apokolips fleet arrived, the scale and difficulty of the war would skyrocket. Even if they could win, it would inevitably be accompanied by massive global casualties, causing incalculable damage.
However, the Justice League was already handling that part, so Orin Vale was relatively at ease.
The second matter that needed to be dealt with was the Parademon problem.
In the large-scale wars of Apokolips, Parademons were always the main force. Also learned from Trickster, Steppenwolf had established a Parademon processing factory within Deherein. If this factory wasn't taken out, it would continuously produce Parademons during the war. Even the Justice League would be bogged down by the Parademons' swarm tactics.
However, Orin Vale's main attention was on his true form, which was handling a more important mission. So, he let the high-speed afterimage lead this A.R.G.U.S. team to take care of this part.
A.R.G.U.S. was, in a way, the equivalent of an Earth Defense Force, a representative of humanity's own power. It really wasn't justifiable for them to be constantly feeding kills and slacking off.
And the team soon discovered that the style of today's "Legendary Captain" seemed quite different from their previous leaders.
The agents had long since become accustomed to the consistent bullshit passed down from the leadership since they joined A.R.G.U.S.. A large group of elite A.R.G.U.S. team leaders, headed by Amanda Waller, had always adopted the classic hands-off command style during missions to date. Their command pattern was nothing more than this:
"You, go to the sky. You, to the ground. And you, you're on commentary. What? You ask what I'm doing? I'll be up on my perch, enjoying the breeze..."
The track record under this leadership model never disappointed; A.R.G.U.S.'s operations had always performed consistently... they consistently sucked.
To briefly summarize, it was basically: The leadership expresses full confidence in their firepower. The leadership orders them to charge. The leadership pops the champagne mid-battle. The leadership realizes it was all useless. The leadership panics, bails, and runs. All the grunts on the front line get sacrificed.
LMAO, it had never once worked.
Then today, this legendary leader suddenly appeared. He led the charge from the front, and when there was trouble, he was genuinely the first to act. This threw everyone off so much they were a little lost.
Captain Mike Williams's performance today could only be described with one word: godlike.
First, he took advantage of the Parademons' low intelligence, leading the team to ambush them with traps, which took out several Parademons and allowed them to seize their weapons. He successfully infiltrated the Parademon factory, killing enemies and looting along the way. The firearms on the agents' waists, which were basically just fire pokers, were all swapped out for Parademon weaponry, giving even the regular team members a fighting chance against the Parademons.
It was a perfect infiltration. The team members' deepest impression was that they were always in the enemy's blind spots. Almost every Parademon they encountered along the way had its back to them, and as they advanced, they always managed to perfectly avoid every guard post and every line of sight.
It was as if... as if the captain had precognition, like he had a wallhack that showed him every enemy's position and field of view.
Of course, if Orin Vale knew what they were thinking, he might say, "Be more confident. Drop the 'as if'."
*Your captain is literally using a wallhack.*
The unbelievably smooth operation made Captain Mike's image grow ever larger in the hearts of the agents. It was no exaggeration to say that if they went back and told the story of what happened today, the other agents in the Organization would probably just shake their heads and say, "Don't believe or spread rumors. Where would our shitty organization find such a god-like leader? Only in your dreams..."
They fought their way into the Central Control Room without triggering a single alarm. Under Captain Mike's direction, the squad breached from both sides simultaneously. They used implosion grenades confiscated from the Parademons to open the way, then stormed in, unleashing a torrent of energy beams.
Although A.R.G.U.S. management was moronic, there were still quite a few capable people among the agents below. As elites, the team members' mobility and marksmanship were on point. The Parademons and the few Apokolips minions operating the consoles in the Central Control Room were all killed before they could even react.
"Lock down the system and terminate the production line," Agent Mike ordered, striding in first. "The factory should have a core reactor for power. We're going to overload it and blow this place sky-high."
"Understood, Captain!"
The agents already regarded him as a god and would execute any command without the slightest hesitation.
Forget the fact that comms with A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters were down. Even if they weren't, the captain's orders were way more reliable than anything from the idiots at the Command Center.
The agents immediately fanned out, and soon, one of them cried out in astonishment.
"Captain!" someone said in surprise. "Y-you have to see this."
(end of chapter)
