The Devil Shovels Coal (IC)

[Electra]

"Of course," Fleur called, relaxing slightly now that the drones were all taken care of. The occupant of the little ship was still an unknown quantity, but there were worse vouchers for one's goodness than being chased out of the Terminus by a squad of Omegadrones. And honestly, he had a nice voice and decent manners, which were something most bad guys didn't bother to cultivate. "I just wanted to get you out of reach of those pikes. Are you injured? Where do you come from?" With a wave of her arm, the ship descended to the ground, the vines settling loosely over it and making it look like a long-lost relic found in the deep jungle.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hey folks," said the man inside the plane sociably as he stepped out of the plane, his hands raised in the air. He didn't look terribly prepossessing at first glance; his pale face looking worn and sagging with hard use, his black mustache drooping and wan, his body a little tubby and out of shape inside black and red leather clothes that might once have been fine before what looked like a scorching and beating had taken place. But he was smiling despite that. "Thanks again for the rescue, I really do appreciate it. And just for the record, I surrender myself entirely into your custody. You can do with me what you want."

Bowman swore explosively and notched another razor-edged arrow, aiming it directly at the figure's left eye. "That's-"

"Hey, hey, come on, you want to waste all those arrows you used on the drones, Bowman?" said the man reassuringly. "As you were saying, I'm Shadivan Steelgrave?" said the figure from the plane as he stepped out onto the soil of Earth-Prime, having the grace to look embarrassed. "That's really a matter of perspective..."

[Fox]

"....ah."

Gaian Knight didn't move much, other than bringing his rock down a bit, but a collection of stones that had been hovering up around his shoulders sharpened out into daggers and spread into a dangerous-looking array of tensed lithic missiles.

"No offense," he assured Shadivan, feeling a little awkward about threatening someone they'd just saved...and more than a little edgy about the sudden reveal. "Given your reputation, an Omegadrone attack and some 'I come in peace' probably doesn't really cut it, you know?"

[KnightDisciple]

Just as quickly as the spear had left his hand, it was in hand again. Gabriel decided to simply rest it on his shoulder as he stared at the person who appeared to be Shadian Steelgrave. Suddenly he was left wondering if they'd struck too soon...

"Please explain the matter of perspective, Mr. Steelgrave. We would so like to understand exactly what's going on. We're a bit on edge after fighting a couple dozen Omegadrones, you see."

His words were structured politely, but something in his voice gave the idea he was barely managing any civility at all. He'd heard of Steelgrave, of what he was responsible for. Gabriel was only human, and so for him there were times it was almost impossible not to hate a person, no matter how much he knew hate was a weapon of the Enemy.

"We're all intelligent adults here, after all. I'm sure we'll understand whats going on once you enlighten us."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Annihilists protect themselves from their enemies via distributed cloning banks," replied 'Steelgrave', his hands still raised and a faint, embarrassed smile on his face. "If Madrigal snaps my neck one day or Mandragora sets her on fire, we pop out a couple of weeks later with the loss of some memories and feeling pretty stupid. Anyway, a few days ago, somebody set off a collapstar bomb in one of Shadivan Steelgrave's cloning labs. That's when I woke up in the rubble, just in time to find out who I was and what was going on." He shrugged. "Turns out that Shadivan Steelgrave guy is kind of a jerk. He doesn't want there to be more than one of him around. In any universe."

[Electra]

"My god, just one Shadivan Steelgrave is bad enough..." Fleur murmured, appalled. She'd only lived in Freedom City a few years now, and she'd been a child when the Terminus had invaded, but those images were indelibly imprinted on every American. She'd also been privy to information about Steelgrave's more recent atrocities, both on his own and in service to his dark master. To see him standing in front of them, or some version of him anyway, was like a strange nightmare.

With a flick of her hand, one of the vines on the ship loosed its grip, coiled like a snake, and wrapped itself securely around the smiling demon. She was a little surprised when he didn't so much as twitch an eyelash at being restrained, despite his words of surrender. "Shadivan Steelgrave, by the authority of the Freedom League I'm placing you under arrest for crimes including terrorist actions, kidnapping, and mass murder. You will be bound over for judgment according to our laws, which is more than you deserve, but luckily we're better people than you. Do you want to tell us exactly what you're after first?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Freedom," said 'Steelgrave' with a shrug, at least as much of one as he could manage inside his bonds. "I've, heh-heh, made some enemies among my fellow Annihilists over the years. They don't like being outsmarted, what can I tell you? And I'm the smartest man in Nihilor," he said with conviction, returning after a moment to that relaxed persona that seemed to come so naturally to him. "Which isn't hard, I'll grant you. If they can't have the real Steelgrave to destroy, they'll happily take their frustrations out on a clone. I figured you guys, being heroes and all," he added, "might be a little more willing to see reason. Or don't you think you can use a version of Shadivan Steelgrave who knows everything he knows?"

"For the love of..." For a moment, Bowman didn't lower his notched arrow, his muscular arms not even wavering as he steadily held a shot. "This is outside my pay grade," he finally said. "Keep him covered, I'm going to try and get in touch with the League again. This is bigger than some corn colossus. We could maybe use a barricade up so nobody stumbles across this, and some way of moving all this back into the city? I know a very deep hole where we can throw this for the duration."

[Fox]

"Barricade - right." Gaian Knight's array of sharpened stone relaxed back into blunt little shards like a relaxing muscle that had been held tense for too long, and he took a moment to look around - a mostly reflexive gesture since he wasn't using his eyes so much as other, less common senses to look at what he had to work with.

He glowed, subtly, the ground under their feet shifting almost imperceptibly as he borrowed materials from here or there; in a very wide perimeter around the group, through the trees, streams of stone were growing out of the ground. They twisted up like they were emulating Fleur's vines, linking and locking until they were a near-impenetrable wall of rock - a simple, over-sized chain link fence of solid stone. "Someone remind me to take this down later."

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel let Fleur and GK worry about putting up barriers around the ship. He troubled himself with keeping guard on the "defecting" Annihilist in front of them. He planted his feet in a wide stance, holding the spear ramrod-straight as he stared directly at Shadian, disgust present on his face.

"Are you trying to say you believe you're a valuable asset? Or that since you're a clone, you can't be held responsible for things done previously?"

He quirked his head to one side, slightly curious.

"Though, I do have to wonder...How many other cloning banks were destroyed? How many Shadian Steelgraves are left in the Terminus?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"I'd say my life's in your capable hands, Gabriel," replied Steelgrave. "My armor's in storage in the back of the ship and there's no way I can reach it from here, and the four of you, is it, are some of the mightiest heroes on your Earth? You want to hold me responsible, go right ahead. I know what I did, and what I didn't do. Anyway, I'd rather be in your prison then getting my skin boiled off in Mandragora's slave pits or being thrown into a doomforge by my own better half, and frankly I don't think you guys are the type to send me back there." He flexed his hands a little in his bonds. "So what's it gonna be? Am I going to die because I have another man's personality? The personality of a man who's trying to kill me? Or are we going to be realistic about this?"

[Electra]

"That's for the courts to decide," Fleur told him coolly. True, the state of New Jersey had no death penalty, but there were plenty of other jurisdictions that would love to take a piece out of Shadivan Steelgrave's hide. That wasn't her business, though. "Our job is to put you where you'll never be able to destroy another innocent life. And if that means solitary confinement in our deepest subterranean prison, then so be it. If I were you, though, I'd be doing my very best to prove myself helpful, cooperative, and maybe even remorseful if you think you can manage it. Your attitude and the intelligence you can provide is going to determine how much you regret your decision to drop by Earth Prime on your way out of the Terminus." It was far from Stesha's usual way of speaking, and for once her face was as hard as stone.

"First question," she continued evenly. "Does your ship have any defenses or booby traps that could be triggered when we go in to secure it?"

[Fox]

"A horrible person trying to kill you doesn't really excuse you from being a horrible person," Gaian Knight pointed out, though behind his goggles he cast a glance at Fleur; he'd been wondering if the things he'd heard about this guy were right, and from the look on her face they'd probably not even scratched the surface. "Clone or not, if you really do have the real deal's memories and personality then you're almost as dangerous as he is, and that's only for lack of resources. I don't think we'd believe for a second that you'd be here if it wasn't to save your own hide, so good graces will only get you so far. Our job is to keep you harmless - and, yes, safe - until wiser minds can figure out what to do with you. So, second question, as long as we're asking - how likely are we to get more of your friends showing up to take your head back to the others?"

[KnightDisciple]

"Third question: Do you have any "contingency plans" that might be bringing any forces to rescue you rather than kill you?"

Gabriel was as implacable as any rock Gaian Knight could pull from the ground. He spoke with a calm, level voice that hinted at a man whose patience was not great for the being in front of him.

"You are clearly an intelligent person, and you managed to acquire a suit of armor, clothes, and a ship, and make it here to Earth Prime. You'll understand if I'm...cautious...regarding possible secondary plans."

[Avenger Assembled]

"There are no contingency plans on my end," said Steelgrave with a thin smile. "Like I said, there's nothing for me back in the Terminus but torture and death. Not really my idea of fun, but then it's not really a party place if you're not in charge," he added with a laugh. "As for my ship, well, you're welcome to try. All the security systems are disabled. I had to turn them off to steal the ship in the first place," he added with a thin smile. "I wouldn't touch the spare armor in there, though, because that one _does_ still have all its booby traps. Magnetic disruption is a bad way to go." He shot a look up at the sky and added, "As for people chasing me, well, that depends on you. Sooner you get me away from that wormhole spoor, the better..." Looking up at the sky, he did seem genuinely fearful, albeit quickly covered, of pursuit. "...and that's leaving out the other problem. The Terminus does have agents on your Earth. Or hadn't you heard about that?" he inquired innocently.

[Electra]

"You don't need to worry about what we've heard or haven't heard," Fleur told Steelgrave coolly. "You just tell us everything you know about any Terminus activity on Prime, in as much detail as you can. If there's anything in there that we don't know, it'll be a point in your favor with the court system. And believe me, right now you want all the points you can get."

Since Steelgrave was thoroughly covered by the assembled heroes and didn't seem to be fighting his bonds, Fleur concentrated her attention for a moment on the vines surrounding the ship. One began to grow again, sending out runners through the open hatch and into the interior of the little vessel, searching for any surprises or anything he hadn't told them about.

[Avenger Assembled]

Fleur was no technical expert, but as far as she could tell the inside of 'Steelgrave''s ship was bare and spartan: there was a control surface, a pilot's chair, what was almost certainly a suit of spare armor (the massive iron suit instantly recognizable for the League-trained Fleur, as it would be for anyone with a familiarity with the Terminus) located near the back, but the rest was all bare bulkheads and sealed compartments. This was an armored ship, one built for battle, but so far it didn't seem to have many secrets to reveal.

"You're not going to find much; that and the armor were the only things I could steal before the death squads showed up. Speaking of which..." Steelgrave looked up at the sky again, and for the first time seemed to grow just a little nervous. "You know, the portal's going to be a weak spot for a while, so you should probably get me out of here if you don't want lots of Terminus ships trying to kick in the door..."

[Fox]

Gaian Knight followed their prisoner's gaze upwards, frowning at the sky. "You know, I think that's about the first thing you've said that I'm inclined to believe," he said, furrowing his brow. "I'm not a big expert on dimensional portals and whatnot, but what's keeping them from showing up if you're not here?"

He stood and pondered for a moment before the earth moved again; rocks and soil drew up from the ground and into the sky, slowly forming a cloud of large, thick spikes, like a three-dimensional minefield of over-sized jacks surrounding where he figured the portal had originally been. They hung in mid-air, perfectly motionless, a hopefully a nasty surprise for anyone else coming through. If anyone else came through. "I'm going to feel really silly if nobody else comes after your sorry butt, but hopefully that'll hold - or at least make their entrance less subtle - until we can get people out here to...handle dimensional stuff."

[KnightDisciple]

"Perhaps we should move a short distance away? I could send Bowman a message through my usual discrete means, and let him know where we've relocated to. Do you think the two of you could bury the ship or something? Or cover it in rocks and plants for a bit? That way if something does come through, the ship's not as obvious, and it's not immediately vulnerable to attack."

Gabriel's gaze had strayed to the area of the portal for a moment, but he was clearly still paying attention to Steelgrave, as if he didn't need his eyes to track the man's location. Still, his steely gaze returned to the strangely cooperative Annihilist.

"As for your information handed over...Perhaps I will offer my services to the League and the courts in helping assure that whatever is spoken is the truth, instead of lies. We do so discourage dishonesty when discussing such...weighty...matters."

[Electra]

"Yes, that seems like a good idea." Fleur waved her hands, and the giant yellow flower hanging over Steelgrave descended like the final net in Mousetrap onto the captive villain. It was motionless for a moment, then closed itself into a tight bud the size of a golf umbrella, leaving no sign that anyone had ever been there. "He'll be safe tucked away for the moment," she told the others, "and out of our hair. I can't believe that we're going to end up protecting this waste of oxygen from the Terminus if they come for him." She flicked her fingers at the ship and grass began to grow, creeping up the sides of the vessel and over the top.

[Avenger Assembled]

Eventually the heroes worked together to carry Shadivan Steelgrave into the waiting arms of the main line of the Freedom League, who zipped back up from Latin America just as Bowman had promised with the news that that the interdimensional despot had surrendered himself peacefully into the hands of the Freedom League Auxiliary. It was a long wait back at Freedom Hall with a mass murderer inside a flower, but Shadivan gave no struggles in confinement. With the arrival of the League, Captain Thunder and Lady Liberty listened to the debriefings from the others with some concern.

"I don't like it," said the Thunderhead Titan as he steepled his fingers across the conference table where the day had started for the new Leaguers what felt like months ago, "but it sounds like you handled the situation as well as anyone could have," he said to the new recruits as well as Fleur and Bowman. "You did the right thing both in taking Steelgrave alive and in restraining him as long as possible. We'll be putting Steelgrave down in the deepest parts of Blackstone while he awaits trial. The League has ways of dealing with cosmic threats like him, even if he _is_ just a copy of the original."