- ...They say animals get violent when they sense anger.
- — Cheetah
Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. #5 is an issue of the series Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 2014. It was published on February 26, 2014.
Synopsis for "The Cages & Courageous: Part Five"
Outisde Central Park in New York City, A.R.G.U.S. agents prepare to seek The Cheetah, who is number five on the A.R.G.U.S. wanted list. Though they are ordered to verify her presence there, and not apprehend, they are only a few steps past the tree line before she attacks them.
Later, Steve Trevor and Killer Frost prepare to find Firestorm and retrieve the Justice Leagues imprisoned within the Firestorm Matrix by using the Lasso of Truth to pull them through. Unfortunately, the lasso belongs to the Cheetah now. Worse, Killer Frost's dependence on the body heat of living beings to function means that she is losing her energy without them. Rather than let her consume his body heat, Steve gives her an unappetizing protein bar, and warns her that it is all he can give her right now. Despite embracing her need to kill, Caitlin Snow has an interest in saving Firestorm. He is the only one who was able to make her feel normal - if only for a moment. If he can help her get back to normal, she must save him.
Not long after arriving in Central Park, the pair are attacked by Weasel. While Steve stuns him with his gun, Frost blasts him with ice. The act takes a lot out of her, though, and without feeding on heat, she will be slowing them down on the mission. In lieu of his own heat, Steve merely stands by while she approaches Weasel for his heat. However, this troubles her. She doesn't want herself to be seen as expendable in his eyes, but clearly, she is. He wonders what she intends to do once she gets her hands on Firestorm. She can't simply cure herself for a short while, and go back to being a scientist. Before her anger can get the better of her, though, they are attacked by Cheetah and her Menagerie. Both Steve and Frost are knocked unconscious promptly.
Meanwhile, the Crimson Men take Dr. Light to an underground location called Crimson House Delta, explaining that they can help him; make him human again. For some time, they had hidden from A.R.G.U.S., but in the current turmoil they were comfortable enough to surface and collect him. Though they are a covert organization, they have several divisions, one of which is called the Futurecast, whose members physically connect with the future. It was they who pointed out Arthur's location. Using the visions of the future that the Futurecast's believers see, another division called the Thinkers seeks to make the future in the present. Together, they have developed a device that can funnel out Arthur's excess energies, and Mistress Charr promises that, given enough time and treatment, they can make him human again - if he will help them.
This is not the first time that Steve Trevor has wakened in a zoo, but it is definitely the first time he was the one in the cage. Though he recognizes some of the "menagerie," others he does not, and he can only assume that Cheetah is using the lasso to make them work for her. Worriedly, he looks to Killer Frost, whose lack of feeding has begun to make her melt. Cheetah approaches his cage, reminding them of their shared past with disdain. She wraps the lasso around him, pointing out that she had watched him struggling to win the love of a goddess who could never see him as an equal, when it would have been much easier to become more like her and the menagerie: fulfilling their primal needs. As Steve struggles to resist the lasso's effects by telling other truths, without succumbing to Cheetah's provocations, Killer Frost lures Mäuschen away from his team-mates, having overheard him complain of his hunger. She offers him a piece of the protein bar Steve gave her, but instead of giving it to him, she drains him of his heat, recharging, and breaking through the frozen, brittle bars of her cage.
Steve, meanwhile, recalls the myth that if any two people fight over the Lasso of Truth, only the purest of heart can wrest control of it. Between the two of them, he clearly has the purer heart, and he manages to wrap the lasso around her instead. While Steve forces her to submit, Killer Frost freezes the remains of the Menagerie - though it leaves her drained again. She warns Steve that they must leave soon, as her powers will only last a little longer without draining the Menagerie. Before they can go anywhere, though, Dr. Light attacks Steve, warning that in order for him to live, Steve must die.
Appearing in "The Cages & Courageous: Part Five"
Featured Characters:
- A.R.G.U.S.
- Steve Trevor
- Agent Stern
- Agent Mori
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Dr. Light
- The Crimson Men
- Char
- Commander Kroll
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S..
See Also