[Val Verde]

[September 8th, 2020]

—

“Your meal, Supreme Leader.” The maid said as she slid over several plates.

I stared at the plates being set forth. Each one had a simple ready to eat meal from the military. Shipments I had been receiving from an old friend. A friend that was more then happy to give a fair trade at least. Regular deliveries and the last, thin support line Val Verde left.

I sighed as looked at the time. 7:11pm.

The MRE was nice and heated. The ‘cheeseburger’ looked like something out of the rejected line in a canned meat factory. This was the best of the 'about to expire' super sale.

From a dear friend in Somalia who needed some quick injections of cash or unique goods. It was a fun food for serviceable weapons swap.

Crates of older AK-47s for pallets of food. MREs that wouldn’t last another year. At least it was a box of MREs per AK. The food would last the country for a few more weeks at least, though I was now out of AKs.

I took a bite, and to my surprise, it was actually edible! Which meant that the giant cookie was going to be excellent. A small ray of sunshine that made me smile.

I dug into my first meal of the day. The taste was salty, but I demolished everything. As far as my new diet of MREs went, this one wasn't too bad.

The maids came and cleared up the simple meal.

I took a mouthful of water. Letting the cool liquid fill my mouth.

Crash!

I spat out the water, and fell into a coughing fit.

I turned and stared at the shattered glass. Some pieces were about the size of me. Most of the jagged pieces shattered as they landed on the wood flooring.

One piece, the one the size of a person, didn’t shatter. It actually stabbed into the wood, sinking a little. The sharp tip, weight, and minor acceleration overcame the wood’s natural resistance.

I stared up. The shapes were becoming clearer as they moved down.

They stared down. A new landscape of broken glass.

Then up again to see my new guests. Some of them had capes.

Superman was the first to land. The rest of them followed. Some flew. Others were standing on a giant green disk.

I stared at them.

Then I looked over to the side door. It was a sliding door that could open very wide.

It was wide enough for the entire assembly of heroes to walk in with lots of elbow room.

I looked at the half dozen heroes. Their stern visage glaring at me.

Then I looked at the open side door. The cool evening breeze was cooling the large room.

At least it should have been a cool breeze. Instead my new open skylight prevented any heat retention.

I frowned as I realized that tonight was going to be cold. I should order the men to cover it with a tarp.

We didn't have the budget for more glass at the moment.

Thinking about my men, the side doors burst open and my guards rushed in. Their weapon trained on the intruders. I waved them down. Then I motioned for them to leave.

Staunch and loyal as they where, they would be no help against my new guests. Many hesitated, but they all moved out.

“Superman. Wonder Woman. Batman. Green Lantern. Martian Manhunter. Aquaman.” I greeted drolly as I leaned back in my chair. “How can I help the heroes of justice?”

“It ends here, Johnny Rico. Your days as the Supreme Leader are over.” Superman was stoic as he moved forward. “Val Verde will no longer suffer under your selfishness.”

I stared at him. I let out a humorless chuckle. “You are all so very late.”

“Pardon?” Batman frowned at my words, and my tone.

“Late. Months late. Did you at least bring relief supplies with you?” I stared at the confused face of the world’s iconic hero.

They stared at me.

I sighed as I placed my face into my palms. I held that position for a minute before I raked my fingers through my hair. This was all so frustrating.

“Val Verde has needed supplies. Lots of supplies for months. I have written to the UN, the Justice League, Avengers, and various other countries. Yet… the only response is that you are here to arrest me? For my selfishness?”

I stood and ran a hand down my shirt. It pulled at the loose skin underneath.

“Please enlighten me to my selfishness.” I was curious. It seemed that there was a disconnection between me and them.

“You are starving your people, and allowing crime to run rampant.” Superman said as his tone shifted. His once confident voice broke as confusion took over.

I laughed. “So I am eating well am I?”

They didn’t respond.

I walked up to the man of steel, and stared into his blue eyes.

“Tell me. Am I eating well?” I ground out as I stared into certain death. All the man of steel needed to do was swat me. Or heat up his vision.

“No. You are not.” Superman frowned as his vision shifted into the x-ray spectrum.

He saw that while I just ate, there was very little food in my system in total. I had lost a lot of weight, and it was all very recent.

“Then why are you here without supplies?”

“We are here on behalf of the UN to bring you forth for your crimes.” Wonder Woman said as she moved forward. Her anger was palatable. “You are letting even children die.”

I took a step back. And blinked as he stared into eyes. They were more flinty then the unhappy Kryptonian.

“You talk about my crimes. Yet. Where. Is. The. Food?” I stared at her. “If you know children are starving, then you must have brought in help. In supplies.”

I walked over to the most famous woman in the world. Irritation flooded me and I clenched my teeth. “I am not letting them starve because I feel it is my right. I am letting them starve because there is no food. No support. No help.”

I was about to poke her in the chest but thought better of it. She could tear off my fingers like I could eat fish sticks.

I closed my eyes and took in deep breaths. I needed to do these little calming rituals more and more these days.

“Val Verde is in a desperate situation. We need food. Charity is scarce and goodwill has run dry. We cannot do fair trade. Sanctions you understand.” I waved my hands as I made my way back to my desk.

The emotional spike, and the fact that I had not eaten until now was making my vision blurry.

The heroes watched as I had to use the desk as a crutch. I took the slow and steady pace to sit down.

Superman was busy looking around. Everywhere he looked, he saw people. Starving people. His eyes found the kitchen, and yet all that was there was simple MREs.

Simple and old MREs if those expiry dates meant anything.

“If you take me, will you provide supplies?” I asked. I am tired. My people were starving. Only eight months ago, I could not have envisioned such catastrophic reality of today.

The lack of international support. The sabotage wrought by Bane. The cut throat pricing of our ‘allies’.

“Why are the people starving?” Batman asked as he stared at me.

“Bane. He set of a series of bombs that contained a large amount of salt. Which, by itself, is not a huge issue, but it was also right before one of the largest storms we had in years. It has contaminated our arable top soil.”

Batman frowned at that. He hadn't heard anything about Bane for some time now. The criminal mastermind was very adept at staying low key when he wanted to.

“It seems that that this is news to you…” I sighed as I palmed my face once more.

“Yes, this is the first time I have heard about this.”

“FUCK!” I screamed as I leaned back. I smashed my hand onto the desk, bruising my hands.

The sharp pain brought back my focus.

I glowered as I stared at the assorted binders that sat on the far table. All of those forms. Useless.

“What is it?” Superman asked as he followed my angry eyes. His vision showcased the various forms inside.

“My apologies.” The man of steel said as he walked over and pulled out a blue binder. Inside was various forms, dated and signed. These were the proper league forms.

“Batman.” Superman handed over the binder.

The world's greatest detective began to flip through the documents. It wasn’t a lot. Yet it was also too much. One per month. Officially the Justice League only accepted one submission per season.

He had taken extra care to go over the country’s compiled information. This was once a country that was able to resist the might of the US military and the Avengers for several days.

That was no small feat.

Batman pulled out his small computer. He connected to the database, and began to enter the various form’s identity numbers. Six entries, and six failures. They had never received a single document.

His fingers danced across his small computer. Yet he didn’t see any records of these documents. He never saw anything of the sort when he was prepping for this mission.

The pair looked through my months of work. I didn’t care. It seemed that there was more at stake here then I understood.

Val Verde was being plotted against.

“Driven to desperation… so that I would accept help from even Hydra…” I whispered to myself. Yet it was loud enough to catch the attention of all present.

The six heroes were no stranger to national plots… but why Val Verde.

“True. I am glad that you have at least some insight.” The mechanical voice filter seemed to roar into the room.

I almost gave myself whiplash as I stared out to where my side door was.

There, in gray armor and a green cloak stood someone I had only written to once.

“Insight I hope that will make it easier to understand the benevolence of Doctor Doom!”

————

Chapter 10: Countdown to Doom