Chapter 71: Interlude 8
"Everyone, we have had the sex!"
Artemis froze with the bagel halfway to her mouth, slowly turning towards the doorway to the common area. Standing there were three people. Donna was slightly off to the side, facepalming. Jacob was standing still, looking a little sheepish. And hanging off his arm was Kori, who looked immensely pleased with herself.
Sitting on the couch nearby, Connor and M'gann were looking at them with equal expressions of confusion. "Uh, what?" Connor asked.
Before Kori could elaborate, Donna interrupted. "Kori we're going to need to have a long talk on what is socially acceptable to blurt out in polite company."
"But I didn't say this in public," Kori said. "These are our closest friends, who would want to know about this joyous moment. Jacob explained to me-"
"Do not pin this on me," Jacob protested, mostly in response to the dirty look Donna was giving him. "I just told her it was ok to talk about it with the people we knew."
"Wait, you're serious?" Artemis said incredulously, turning away from the island countertop she was sitting at. "You guys actually..."
Kori nodded vigorously. "Yes! Several times! We-"
"Nope!" Connor quickly stood up. "Nope! Not sticking around for this!" The boy promptly turned and walked out of the room.
M'gann watched him leave before turning back to Kori. Her face blushed green, and she twiddled her fingers together. "So..."
Kori grinned and hopped over the back of the couch, and began animatedly describing things which Artemis forced herself to tune out. "...Ok I do not want details," Artemis said, turning back to Jacob as he and Donna approached the countertop. "But… how? You couldn't do that before you left."
"Magic!" He said cheerfully, plucking a bagel out of the bag in front of Artemis. "More specifically, a blessing from Gaia. Kori impressed her enough that she gave me the same treatment as Wonder Woman. Mostly."
"What do you mean 'mostly'?"
He gestured vaguely with the knife he had picked up, already half covered in cream cheese. "Well, my body hasn't suddenly been turned into flesh and blood. I'm still the mass of hyper-advanced nanomachines you all know and love. I just got something of a… software update. The enchantment the deity placed on me is drawing connections between spiritual memories and my current body. In short, because I used to be organic, I can feel those sensations again. Though there are a few 'quirks', given that a few things physically don't match up."
Donna leaned against the counter. "Speaking of which, didn't you have enough on the island?" She gestured to the bagel in his hand. "Do you even feel hunger?"
"I'm… still figuring that out. I don't really feel hunger, but I've still been experiencing 'cravings' for lack of a better term. And on that note, while the Amazons did have excellent food," He held up the finished bagel. "They didn't have a good shmear." He then slowly took a bit out of the bagel, and his eyes closed in bliss.
Against her better judgement, Artemis stole a glance at Kori and M'gann. It looked like Kori had moved on to adding hand gestures to her demonstration. Artemis had no idea what it meant, but M'ganns entire face had turned dark green, and she was covering her mouth with a wide eyed expression.
Looking back at her friend consuming his breadstuff, Artemis felt slightly conflicted. Mostly she was happy for him, of course. He didn't like to talk about it, but Artemis knew how much anxiety Jacob had over not having the ability to feel things correctly.
But on the other hand… eww.
So, lacking a way to resolve that emotional conflict, Artemis fell back on her old standby: poke fun at him."So how do you feel about finally losing your V-card?" She said with a smirk.
He started to protest, but stopped. "Hmm… is virginity per-body? Because if the bodies are anatomically different enough, I suppose a case could be made-"
"Never mind, you ruined it." She grumbled, noticing that Kori and M'gann had now moved to the kitchen. They hadn't stopped talking but Kori was rummaging through the cupboards and putting a lot of junk food into a very large bowl. She looked back at Jacob."I had a whole line up of innuendos to imply you were bad at it, but you've managed to take all the fun out of it."
Jacob arched an eyebrow, but this comment also got Kori attention. "I keep hearing that," She said, walking out of the kitchen with the bowl in one hand and the other planted her hip. "That implication that men are not good at sex. How is that absurd notion so pervasive on this planet?"
Artemis didn't say anything, and Donna gave Kori a look of 'oh you poor innocent thing'. This caused her to look towards Jacob for an explanation, which he hesitantly gave. "That's not literally true, but there is an unfortunate grain of truth to it. The thing is, the majority of human women can't climax from penetrative sex alone-"
"What? That's awful." Kori said, her hand coming up to her mouth.
He nodded. "And since humans are kind of bad at communicating, and since young men often just try the simplest thing, a lot of women's first experiences are… poor."
Kori was downcast for a few moments before she perked up. "Well, I suppose that explains why you used your hands so-"
"OH MY GOD PLEASE STOP TALKING!" Artemis shouted before she closed her eyes and put her hands to her ears. Maybe if she wished hard enough, she could just make this entire conversation disappear.
It was a good thirty seconds before she opened her eyes again, and when she found Jacob and Kori had disappeared, she thought it might have actually worked. Artemis looked around in confusion before she saw Kori heading in the direction of her room, foodstuffs in one arm and a nonplussed Jacob slung over her other shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Welp… goodbye I guess." He said before they moved out of sight.
Next to her, M'gann coughed awkwardly. "I need to go… look some things up." She muttered, before she hurriedly flew off and disappeared.
Artemis looked after them for a moment before she groaned and slumped down on the countertop. Donna gave her a bemused look. "Not exactly a normal group of friends, huh?"
Artemis blew out some air. "Normal's overrated, but this is not what I had in mind when I joined up with these guys. They didn't have to throw all their… personal stuff at me."
The other woman gave her an odd look. "Are you… jealous?"
Artemis sat up straight. "What, for him!? No! Those two have been making eyes at each other since I met them! Besides, I really can't think of him like that."
"Fair enough, but it sounds like you're taking this a bit more personally than you should."
Artemis stared at the other girl before she sighed, sitting in sullen silence for a few more seconds before blurting out "Everyone's hooking up! I mean, those two were already together, but now they're just reminding me that somehow I'm still single. I know it's dumb, but it still bugs me."
Surprisingly, Donna groaned in response. "Try spending three days with the two lovebirds on vacation." She pulled out a chair and sat down next to her. "I swear, you needed a magically forged crowbar to pry them apart. Which I actually found and used at one point."
Artemis blinked. Donna had always been so collected when she was around her, but now... "You're sounding a little jealous about it too." She remarked.
That brought Donna up short. "Err… not really. I just ended up having to babysit them a lot."
"Uh huh." Artemis said skeptically.
Donna hesitated for a moment longer before she sighed. "Alright, maybe a little. I think guys my age are really immature, and I'm pretty sure I intimidate the rest away."
"Preach," Artemis said, propping her head with her hand. "Most of the guys at my school are immature and little snobs. The tales I could tell..."
Donna waved her hand. "Let's not let this devolve into a pity party. That will just turn into us trying to one up each other with how rough we had it growing up."
Silence settled between the two of them. Slowly but surely, both of them lost the battle to keep the smirk off their faces.
"Orphan, never knew my birth parents. Bounced around from foster home to foster home for most of my life."
"Deadbeat dad. Runaway sister. Mom's in a wheelchair."
A beat, and the two giggled. Artemis leaned back in her seat. "Not exactly a normal group of superheroes, huh?"
"Oh, I'm sure tragic backstories are a dime a dozen among heroes, even if ours are rather mundane." Donna said back. "If anything, it just proves we're 'Titans of Justice'."
Artemis groaned, remembering what Jacob had said during Donna's test. "Don't encourage him."
"Well, you have to admit," Donna said. "It has a nice ring to it."
I would never threaten you.
Days after he had met the man, Machina's words sat in the back of Luthor's mind. A slight frown crossed his face, and the drink in his hand went untouched as he gazed out over the Metropolis skyline. It wasn't the first time he had retired to his private lounge at the end of a day to puzzle out an issue that vexed him. But it had been a while since he had spent several days in a row on the same issue. Funnily enough, the arrival of the Alien was another time it happened.
Now though, it was a different superhero that had his focus. Luthor would have said that Machina was not what he expected, but frankly, he had not known what to expect of him to begin with. The main reason Luthor met him in person was to get an idea of what kind of person he was, so that he could be properly predicted and accounted for in their plans. Machina was not exactly chaotic in his actions, but his behavior thus far was atypical for a superhero. And what Luthor could glean from the man…
Luthor had found that superheroes had a force of personality about them. It made sense, given how it took a certain kind of person to throw on a garish costume and risk their lives for no compensation. He had seen for himself how the Alien could take command of a room, and how the Amazonian Princess naturally drew everyone's attention when she spoke. Even Batman (from what he had been told) had an intensity about him that couldn't be ignored.
Machina… did not have that. Aside from his impressive physique (artificial as it was) Machina gave the impression of a relatively normal man. He seemed intelligent and focused, but not the same level of genius that Kord or Serling possessed. And yet that was entirely at odds with what the man had accomplished. It wasn't the first time Luthor had seen such a difference in presentation and capability, however.
Machina reminded Luthor of an assassin.
Not like famous 'super' assassins, who were driven by ego or fantic devotion. And certainly not like the low level thugs employed by organized crime. No, he reminded Luthor of the middle sort, the kind he liked to employ when he needed some discrete work done. They were, to a one, polite, professional, and most importantly, unassuming. You could have an entire conversation with one and it would barely stick out in your memory. And that was all the better for them to do their job.
And since Machina had proven he was quite willing to go farther than his fellow superheroes, he was shaping up to be particularly dangerous if left unchecked. Which was a problem, as each attempt to check him thus far he had resisted or adapted to. Luthor was starting to worry that the direct approach was going to require increasing amounts of escalation each time they failed. At this point it seems elimination is the best direct option, he mulled. He knew that Calculator and The Brain were working on ways to control him, but he had proven resilient to past attempts. Given their ultimate plans, it would be best to nip this in the bud.
Luthor sighed. This would be an argument, he just knew it. There were many advantages to allying yourself with powerful and like-minded individuals, but one of the downsides was that it could be difficult to get everyone on the same page. Egos could clash, they would each go for the plan they thought was best, and as a result they would interfere with each other. Would that there was some other way to just remove the man from superheroing for a while-
He drew up short. That… could work. He turned on his heel and walked from the lounge, moving through the building to head to a particular elevator. Once inside, he pressed several of the buttons in a particular sequence, holding his thumb down on the last button for it to scan his biometrics. In short order he was headed to the depths of the building, and he stepped out of the elevator into his private communications room.
He punched in a few commands on the keyboard, and the machines hummed for a few moments before the image of the Brain popped up on the screen. The cylindrical body was pointed towards an array of devices in front of it, but he still answered "Luthor. What do you need?"
"I was wondering if I could discuss some changes to operations." He had picked the Brain to bring this to first as he was one of the more logical members of the Light. If Luthor could bring him around it would make presenting to the rest of their cohorts much easier. "I have an option for dealing with Machina in the short term."
"Can this wait? I am observing Ocean Master as he engages in the ritual for Operation Midnight."
Luthor felt a sudden burst of alarm. "What, already? Are we accelerating the time table?"
"No, these are just preliminary tests." The Brain assured. "To ensure that the full ritual will be controllable. The margin for error is slim, after all." A pause. "Would you like to observe as well?"
Luthor calmed down, and considered for a moment. Once the Brain got caught up in an experiment, it was next to impossible to divert his attention. And since this seemed like the sort of thing he should be aware of in case things go wrong… "Yes, I would."
After a short wait another one of the screens around Luthor came to life, this one showing the bridge of an Atlantian vessel. There were several men in concealing garb meaning stations, but the screen's focus was on Ocean Master, who sat in a throne-like chair in the center. "I wouldn't have thought you would be interested in the arcane, Luthor." Ocean Master remarked, shifting his grip on the trident in his hand. "Your speciality is surface-world technology, after all."
"I had a spare moment, and I'm not adverse to broadening my horizons." In truth, Luthor had never cared for how 'messy' magic could get, even if he was willing to employ specialists in its use. He had been forced to do just that lately with Kord's interest in the subject leading into possible research. It wouldn't do for LexCorp to be so behind one of its competitors.
Ocean Master grunted, and fell into silence. They didn't have to wait long before the ship arrived at its destination, one of the numerous deep valleys that littered the ocean floor, nestled against a mountain that rose sharply from the ground. Ocean Master and his cultists departed, the camera view following them somehow. Given the Brains had likely set up this arrangement, Luthor guessed that it was attached to some kind of drone.
He watched the group plunge into the water. It was dark of course, the only illumination coming from the glowing orbs held by Ocean Master's followers and the lights coming off the ships. Sunlight couldn't make it this far under the surface, and the illumination of Atlantian cities was miles away. As such it was next to impossible to see any spot that wasn't within the immediate area. That changed as the group swam down to the ocean floor, moving towards the base of the closest mountain. Some of the cultists cast yet more orbs which moved away from them, some moving upwards to illuminate the cliff they were moving towards. And Luthor saw it for what it was.
It wasn't a mountain. It was a temple the size of one.
"What is this place?" Luthor found himself wondering out loud.
To his surprise, Ocean Master answered him. "It has no name." He said, approaching part of the abstract fresco which stretched endlessly in both directions. "It's too old for such things. This place is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Royal line. These structures are older than Atlantis, older than any civilization. They belong to something that came before, something that lived in the deep."
"...Which was?"
"The descriptions were not precise, and I believe that was intentional." The man's hand traced the image of a trident on the wall. "These beings were utterly alien to early Atlantians, and that combined with their power made people wary. Before the Sinking, the Royal line came to an 'arrangement' with them, though what exactly the terms were is lost to time." He frowned. "So the records say, though I doubt any Atlantian has ever actually met one. Just some fanciful tale that ignores how this civilization was long dormant before Atlantis ever existed."
"Dormant?" Luthor asked. "What happened to them?"
"They're sleeping." Ocean Master said. "The reason is unknown, but I imagine it made this all the easier to take from them." He held his trident aloft, and it began to glow with a golden light. The trident image in the fresco glowed in kind, and a moment later that glow spread to the a ring of symbols on the wall. The stone inside of that circle then… melted, for lack of a better term. The rock flowed like a viscous substance, pulled inward until there was a massive circular hole in the cliff.
One of the orbs of light floated forward and Luthor saw a dark tunnel, the walls lined with elaborate ridges and patterns that reminded him of coral. It felt… wrong somehow, like he was looking down the gullet of some alien creature. It didn't stop Ocean Master though, as he and his retinue swam forward into the darkness.
The tunnel led into something of a maze, with more tunnels, and corridors, and empty spherical rooms branching in every direction. The maze was three dimensional, and with only the drone's perspective Luthor was having trouble keeping track of the structure. Ocean Master repeatedly pulled out an ancient scroll with intricate designs, looking at it every time they came to a junction. A map of some kind?
After a few minutes, the Brain muted their connection to Ocean Master. "It seems we have a moment, Luthor. At least until he finds his target." The Brain stated. "In broad strokes, what changes to our operations did you have in mind?"
"I want to initiate 'Curfew' protocol on the team of young heroes. Just before Operation Midnight begins."
The Brain took a moment to process this. "You wish to remove them as a potential variable?"
"I wish to remove Machina, specifically." Luthor qualified. "The team itself is troublesome enough, but I feel we need to break Machina's momentum and keep him occupied for a while. At least until we have a plan we're certain will deal with him."
"...There are several of our members who wanted to make use of the young heroes, rather than eliminating them as a threat entirely."
"I don't think that is feasible, at least with its current state." Luthor said. "Our sources indicate that in addition to their competence, they are very trusting of one another. It will be very difficult to find weaknesses to exploit. There will likely be other opportunities for control later."
Again, the Brain considered this. "Logical, but why just before Operation Midnight? Doing so will give it less impact."
"True, Midnight will quickly overshadow it, but the League will also not have any time to respond." Luthor pointed out. "Afterwards we can focus the media's attention to keep them off balance."
The Brain was silent for a full minute, the only sound coming from him being the hum of his chassis. Eventually, he said "Your idea has merit. Barring new information, I will support this suggestion when brought before the others."
Luthor held back a hum of satisfaction. "I thought you'd see it my way."
They turned their attention back to the drone's feed in time to see Ocean Master's group come to a stop in a large hall, larger than the tunnels they had been moving through before. This one had large circular doors on both the walls and ceiling, but what drew Luthor's attention was the massive gap in the floor. The almost artful ridges on the floor converged on the 10 meter hole, rising up as jagged teeth before spiraling downward into darkness. It looked like a maw, frozen just before it could consume whatever fell in.
One of the cultists began drifting his light towards it, but Ocean Master stopped him. "No. Not there. That is where itsleeps."
Luthor spoke up. "It?"
"The god of this civilization. The focal point of all it's might. It is written that it was powerful enough to command all the oceans of the Earth."
Luthor straightened. "That's what you're after."
"No," Ocean Master replied, and to Luthor's surprise he drifted away from the hole. "Waking the god of the old ones was written to bring about the end of all other civilizations. While I'm sure the myths are exaggerated somewhat, I do not care to pit my will against it. Besides, I do not need the god itself."
He floated upwards to the door and the ceiling, and using his trident he opened it like he did the outer wall. The new space turned out to be a chamber so massive that Luthor couldn't see the walls. But the light from the orbs showed that it was not empty. Floating in the water, lined up in row after row, were sarcophagi. Made from rock, and numbering in the thousands.
"Just it's followers."
Chapter 72: 16-1
With my eyes closed, I breathed in deep through my nose, trying to pick out all the smells. A mixture of old exhaust, warm asphalt, and several food carts of dubious quality. It wasn't quite my home New York, but Keystone City had that same old American city smell to it. It's strange the things you find yourself missing if you don't have them for long enough, I mulled, opening eyes to look out at the low skyline. It didn't go far before I saw the break where the river cut the line between Keystone and Central City.
"Alright, sound off people." I said, my gaze sweeping over the skyline.
"Team one has secured the last of the cultists," Starfire responded. "They're packaged together and the local police are on their way."
"Team two has recovered all of the equipment and files they had at the warehouse, what little there was." Aqualad said next.
"Team three's picked up all the field generators across the city." I said, the pile of electronics already loaded into Moya, the ship floating cloaked behind me.
"Affirmative. Everyone, regroup at rally alpha."
I cut the comm and flew up to the ship, passing through the hole in the underside to be greeted by Kid Flash and Miss Martian. "Nice to have a mission wrap up no problems for once." Kid Flash said, leaning back in his chair.
"And if something comes up, I am now blaming you." I said back as I sat in one of the chairs, Miss Martian taking Moya out to the rendezvous point.
While I chided Kid Flash, he wasn't wrong. The Cult of the Kobra had been laying low since Santa Prisca, but we had gotten a tip that they were planning something for Keystone city. Flash had picked up a few cultists that had been stealing certain high tech items, but when they didn't give up anything concrete, he asked for us to investigate. Since we were dealing with an organization that was all about chaos and destruction, one of the first things we did was check the city utilities. And sure enough, we found several devices wired into the city's power grid at key places.
They emitted a novel energy field, the purpose of which I couldn't discern. At a guess it was only a component of Kobra's plan, and they would bring in something else to make use of it. Of course, none of us want to wait to find out what that was, so after tailing a cultist who had come to work on one of their devices back to their hideout, we formed a plan of attack.
And for once… everything went fine. We weren't spotted early, there were no sudden complications, no super powerful metahumans were fielded against us. We set the trap, they fell into it, and we took them down before they knew what hit them. We had spent the last two hours doing clean up and now that we were done, it almost felt unreal.
It wasn't long before we picked up both groups of our teammates, and we parked over the river that flowed between the sister cities. "A job well done," Starfire said, looking over us with a smile on her face. "We've probably saved a lot of lives today."
"Not that anyone will ever know," Superboy remarked, but there wasn't any heat in it. "What was Kobra even trying to do? If they wanted to do some damage, bombs would have been easier."
"I'll have to get back to you on that." I said. "I could list off the properties of those field generators for you, but their actual purpose? Not sure."
"I was hoping we'd get another shot at big man Kobra himself," Robin slumped back in his seat. "This looked like a big enough operation that he might show up."
"Maybe he was busy with something else. They haven't been making a lot of headway since we last ran into them." I paused before shrugging. "Welp, there'll be plenty of time to speculate during the debrief."
Kid Flash spoke up. "Hold up. We don't have to head back to the Mountain for that till nightfall, and we finished this one pretty quick. Come on, we can hang out in my home city for once!"
"Not a bad idea, KF." Robin said, sitting up in his seat. "It's been awhile since the whole gang just hung out, at least outside the Mountain. Kaldur, you up for it?"
The other teen paused for a moment before he said "I'm fine with it, though I think the reason we haven't been doing this in public is that our numbers have increased considerably in the past few months. Not to mention the difficulties of us being together in public." He cast a glance towards Starfire.
Yes, our leader presented a bit of a problem there. The rest of us had ways to look like ordinary humans, but she was out of luck. None of the holograph tech I had was good enough for a realistic disguise, and my Mask nanites weren't designed for sitting on flesh (especially organic eyeballs).
Starfire looked crestfallen for a moment, but straightened back up in her seat. "Well, I suppose you'll have do it without me."
"You and me can still go out together," I offered. "I've been meaning to go on a food journey anyway, it'll be great." I would have done it sooner, but for the past few days I had been pretty much trapped in Kori's bed, ensnared by the unbreakable cage of love, sex, and cookies. We… may have gone a bit overboard, but I think we successfully made up for lost time.
She perked up a little. "That sounds good, though I do wish we could be a group in public. It's upsetting to think of all we can't do together, because of this need for secrecy."
"Well... what about Donna?" I offered.
"Me?" The woman in question asked.
"Yeah, you don't wear a mask, and you are known, if not very well. I don't think there's much of a problem if you hang out with us in public." I think. I still wasn't very sure how Donna handled her identity, but I had to assume that since the woman didn't bother covering her face on the job she'd be fine with it.
Donna waffled for a few moments before she nodded. "Sure, I could go with you guys."
"Well if you're going-" We looked at Artemis, who stopped for a moment before she started again. "I mean, I could go with you guys too. I'd have to get another mask first, but..."
I was honestly taken off guard by the suggestion. I had assumed Artemis of all people wouldn't want the extra attention of being with us in public. Even if she was disguised, she would get a lot of questions from people passing by. It probably wasn't a good idea to have a team sized group in public either because, well, people would assume we were a team. And yet, I saw Superboy and Miss Martian glance at each other, and I could tell they were concerning it too.
But before I could say anything, Robin yelled "No! I don't want to split the team! That's what always happens! And it's always you guys and us!"
I looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"You guys who live at the Mountain! And now you two!" He pointed at Artemis and Donna. "Me, Kid Flash and Aqualad started this team, but it feels like… like we're on two different teams sometimes."
I continued to be confused, but Artemis said "Hey, it's not his fault you guys barely visit."
"It's not our fault we've got other superheroes to partner up with!" Kid Flash shot back. "Me and Rob can't just ditch the Flash and Batman! And Aqualad's got… I dunno, stuff to do back in Atlantis!"
Aqualad looked uncomfortable, but said "It's no one's fault that we have different responsibilities… but I think Robin may have a point."
I felt an old, familiar pit in my stomach, one I had hoped I would never have to deal with again. Ah, social anxiety my old friend, I thought I had killed you. "Guys, come on, let's-"
I was cut off mid-sentence as I got a very specific alert from the Mountain's monitoring systems. My eyes widened, and I split my focus to dive into the internet to verify the alert. And it didn't take long to confirm it. "Oh. Oh dear."
"What is it now?" Robin asked.
I formed a hologram projector, making a screen at the front of the ship that showed a broadcast happening live. On screen was an attractive blonde woman standing outside of the Hall of Justice, a small crowd of other reporters at the doors behind her. "-is Kat Grant with a breaking news story. Several news outlets have just received information that the Justice League has been employing a secret team of non-League superheroes to do secret crime fighting and operations."
"Wait, what?!"Kid Flash yelled, though he was hardly the only one on the ship doing so. "S-She's not talking about us, is she?"
The reporter continued "The details are still being analyzed, but GBS News has several dozen pictures and videos of these superheroes engaged in acts that have not been corroborated by the local police or U.N, in clear violation of the Justice League charter. Here are some of the videos we received."
The screen changed to a picture-in-picture mode to show… us. Clips of the Team during our missions, clips that by all rights shouldn't exist. Kyoto, Louisiana, even Philadelphia. Most of them were from odd angles and didn't have the clearest view of us, but it was unmistakably us. After a moment, the reporter said "Evidence of this team's connection to the League is spread throughout the media, but it's most prominent in this clip here."
The screen changed to show a slightly shaky view of the top of a small building from an adjacent rooftop. Off to the left you could see a taller building that was smoking and had a few holes in it, and I recognized it as Cryptarch's headquarters, the night of the Fog incident. The lights from down below helped illuminate the center of the shot, which held me and Starfire with the rest of the team partially off screen. The audio was full of ambient noise from the street, and the audio quality wasn't great, but I could still make out my voice saying words I had never spoken. "Come on, let's go before someone notices us. The Justice League will have our hides if they have to explain us being here."
The screen switched back to the reporter. "We are attempting to reach out to the Justice League for comment, but they have yet to release a statement. Until then, we are only left with speculation. Are Starfire and Machina the ones leading this team? Are those sidekicks? Who are the rest of them? And if the League is responsible for them, what does this mean that they have been trying to work around U.N. oversight? We'll be updating this story as it develops."
We sat there in stunned silence, our world completely upturned in the last minute. Eventually, I said the only thing I could think of. "Damn... I was going to clear out an IHOP today."
"Explain. Now."
Batman was, predictably, unhappy.
By the time we had gotten back to the Mountain, the story had spread like wildfire across the internet. It was hard to pin down exactly where the first leak of information had come from, but it looked like the newscast was right. An information package had been dropped off at every major news outlet in the country simultaneously. With no clue as to who or how.
Something I would be looking into later, but right now I had to deal with an irate man in a bat costume. "Why do you assume we know more about this than you do?" I shot back. "We would have mentioned if we had seen cameras following us around everywhere. I might as well ask what the League knows about this."
I knew the answer was 'not much', otherwise the Justice League would have put out an official statement by now. I'm sure they already had some people looking into it, but at the moment we had Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman here in the main hall with the Team, to try to figure this out. I appreciated them coming to the Mountain, though I still didn't care for Batman's tone.
Batman scowled even more, but Wonder Woman stepped in. "Jacob, we are trying to get as much information as possible. If there is anything you know that might be useful..."
I looked at her for a long moment before I gestured, holographic screens coming to life around us. "If you're asking me 'how' this happened, I don't have a solid answer for you. I can only assume that someone noticed us at some point, and started to keep a closer tab on their operations."
" 'Their' operations?" Superman asked. "Don't you mean yours?"
"No, I don't. While our missions have gone sideways on occasion, I have no reason to think that anyone is specifically tracking our movements. More likely the missions that are being shown on the news are connected somehow, probably by who's behind them. After the latest one they probably figured that they had enough footage they could paint in the rest of it."
"Paint in?"
I pointed at one of the many holographic screens, a video of me moving the halls of the hotel in Kyoto, taking down crazed mages. "This angle's impossible, there would be a wall blocking the 'camera'." I pulled up another of me bursting through the outer wall of the Sunderland building in Louisiana. "This didn't happen like this." I pulled up the video of Cryptarch. "I definitely didn't say that. This isn't just someone watching us, we're being set up."
"But why now?" Troia asked. "And if they're willing to doctor evidence, why did they do it just to show the things they didn't have a camera for, or minor changes? Why not show us kicking puppies or something?"
Kid Flash snorted. "Come on, no one would believe that. Without any hard proof, no one would believe a superhero suddenly started committing crimes."
I nodded at Kid Flash. "Right. And this is just on the edge of believability. The footage that's going around is all in cities, where's it's feasible that someone looked out a window and saw us." And going by the rumors I had been tracking online prior to this, a few had. "The fake stuff is immaculate, I don't think any modern human systems would be able to detect it. Honestly, I think only the Kyoto footage is close to real, that may be when the observation actually started."
Miss Martian had been silently worried for a while, but now she spoke up. "I mean, even if it's fake evidence of what we actually did, it's still fake. Shouldn't we be able to prove that?"
"I don't think it's about proof, MM," Robin said. "None of this would actually hold up in court, but now everyone's going to be out looking for us. And even if it stays just a rumor, it damages the League's rep. Machina's right, this is the first move in a bigger game."
I grunted, my mind already elsewhere as I thought about possible countermoves. Silver lining, due to the locations chosen for our 'exposure', whoever was doing this wasn't using the really damning stuff, like Santa Prisca or Bialya (though that may come later if the public was receptive to this). Which meant if we moved quickly… I may have had one or two contingencies in place that could help.
I actually found myself wishing Red Tornado was here, he was always good at breaking down these sorts of problems into their base bits. Hell, I wished Rommie was here if just for her endless optimism, but she had gone to hang out with Red Tornado at Yellowstone.
But, I could dive into such plans after the current meeting. "So, the question remains… who did this?" I asked everyone present. "I'm pretty sure the Calculator is at least partly responsible, and we know he's working with someone in Bialya. Who wants to bet they've made even more friends?"
The three senior superheroes looked at each other before looking back at me. "You're talking about the shadow organization. The one that has been working against the League."
"It makes sense..." Starfire said, her hand cupped to her chin in thought. "The data released made sure to draw attention to your connection to us. To the point they even fabricated a conversation to reinforce it. This wasn't just an attack against us, it's an attack against the League."
"It's the League of Shadows." Everyone turned to Robin, who was holding his hands up. "Come on, it's obvious. They're the only organization that has the motives and is big enough to pull this off. The earliest video is a mission involving them, for crying out loud! I'd bet anything that Bialya and the Calculator have joined up with them."
Batman grunted. "The Calculator doesn't have the psych profile to join the League of Shadows, they only take believers. And they have never taken 'allies' before, just assets they can use and discard. But with the resources he showed in Kyoto, he is getting substantial support… It may be a different organization, the one that has had contact with the Apokolipians."
"Maybe, but why not both?" I said. "They could be joined by a mutual hatred of you guys. Enough to reach out to Apokolips, at least." We still hadn't heard back from the Miracles, god knew what was taking them so long.
Superman nodded. "Apokolipian technology has been a common thread as of late. From what I've heard, they often destabilize a planet through indirect means before making a bigger move, using many inside agents. You think this might be part of that plan?"
"We certainly can't rule it out." I grumbled, and I paused for a moment before clapping my hands, collapsing all the holographic windows. "So, back to the most immediate problem... what are we going to do about it?"
"You won't do anything." Batman said. "The League-"
"Yeah yeah, 'the League will handle it', we know." I cut him off. "We've been through this song and dance before, and we know how it turns out. Seriously, what are we going to do? Obviously we can't go running off without more information, and we can't take any more missions until this gets solved. If we work on figuring out exactly who-"
"Jacob." It was Wonder Woman who cut me off. "The Team is too close to this. We can't in good conscience send you out against an unknown enemy that is targeting you, even if it's to get to us. The League has to be the ones to take care of this."
"Then what the heck do we do till then?" Kid Flash protested. "No offense, but it takes you guys forever to get anything done."
The three looked at each other, before Superman stepped up. "We may have to consider the possibility… that the Team won't ever be able to do missions again."
Everyone on the team erupted in protests. "Quiet." Batman's voice cut through all of us, and in the following silence he continued, his tone surprisingly soft. "This team has done good work, but it's become too dangerous for it to keep operating. I'm sorry, but this could be the end of the line."
"Don't you see? That is exactly what these people want!" Starfire protested. "We have hindered their operations and foiled their plans. We can't simply give up due to this attack!"
"But it can't be helped." Wonder Woman said firmly. "In war, you must recognize where to pick your battles and when you are put in a bad position. We may have to accept that we've lost this one."
"What about us?!" Kid Flash yelled. "You can't just expect us to do nothing!"
"No one's saying that." Superman assured. "You can go back to working alongside your mentors. And we'll think of something for the others. It's just that for now, it's too much of a risk to have you together-"
Troia suddenly stumbled, her hand coming to her chest. "What..." she muttered, her face one of confusion.
"Troia? What's wrong?" Wonder Woman asked.
"I… don't know." She said, straightening up. "Something feels wrong, but I don't know what."
Everyone else present looked at her with concern, but no one knew what to make of that. I suppose it could have just been a dizzy- yeah, no I can't even complete that thought. Well, I wasn't getting any alerts from Mountain security, but I set it to do an internal scan while I checked police feeds, media feeds, even a few weather stations and satellites. I still didn't know what, if any, connections Troia might have had to cosmic affairs but it seemed prudent to check.
While the others continued to talk about the Team's future, I happened across weather satellite feed positioned over the Atlantic that was showing something odd. At first I wondered if something had drifted over the lens, but the spot was rapidly growing bigger. I watched it for a few seconds before I understood what I was looking at. "Guys!" I said loudly, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. "There's a giant blob of dark something that's starting to cover the entire Atlantic ocean."
I called up a holographic screen that showed them what I was seeing, the dark blob already half covering the middle of the ocean, expanding at a blinding pace. It only took a few more seconds before it reached the shores, and I opened another screen showing the outside of the Mountain just as it hit. Across the sky, a curtain of night screamed from the horizon and swept over us. The once sunny sky was now blotted out by a wavering night, numerous stars shining with an almost sickly glow above us.
The shroud slowed as it hit the land, and came to a stop a few hundred miles inland. In under a minute, the entire Atlantic ocean and the coastline were covered in darkness.
Well… silver lining... everyone else would probably forget about us for a bit.
Chapter 73: 16-2
I was actually a little surprised when nothing else happened.
To be sure, the internet and news networks went nuts showing footage and pictures of the strange night sky that was covering a fifth of the globe, but other than that… nothing. Well, there were clear signs of panic starting up, but from where I was it seemed to be perfectly mundane panic rather than anything magically induced. And this wasmagic we were looking at. Troia's reaction was a bit of a giveaway, and the one of the first things the three Leaguers present did was get in contact with an expert. Who was current on one of the many holographic screens around us.
"The effect appears to be exactly as it seems." Mera said, the woman remaining calm while mages hustled about behind her. "It is a veil of night, even if its appearance and magical signature is strange. It's very powerful, it would require either a large group of mages working in tandem, or an extremely powerful individual spellcaster. But as to why someone would make it… I don't know. "
"Could we be looking at only the first part of a larger ritual?" Batman asked.
"I shudder to think what spell this would be a mere prelude for, but I can't discount the possibility. If I knew exactly how this night was caused, I might be able to give some insight."
Troia stepped forward. "The effigy of Nyx was the one artifact that Zatara sent us after which we couldn't recover. I think it's safe to say whoever did this has it."
Mera's brow furrowed. "Yes… I remember now, Wotan attempted to use a different artifact corrupted by the Brujeria a few months ago, attempting something similar." She shook her head. "But if it was him, I would expect it to cover the whole planet rather than just the ocean."
"We have leads we need to follow before we can say for certain who is responsible," Wonder Woman, a slight frown crossing her face. "Atlantis is known for its mages, and the effect originated in your area. Do you think one of your countrymen or a group of them might have done this?"
Mera started to respond before she stopped, uncertainty crossing her face. "It's... possible." she said reluctantly. "There has been unrest in Thierna Na Oge lately, purists causing trouble. As a great deal of magical knowledge lays there, Prince Orm has taken a portion of the Home Fleet to secure and stabilize the region." Her mouth pressed thin, and I can only guess what she was thinking about the prince. "My husband wanted to go, but Orm insisted that he remain here to keep the people calm. "
"Do you think Orm will be able to locate the source if it's there?"
"Perhaps, but the Conservatory is already working on that issue. A spell this powerful leaves a massive thaumic signature that can be tracked. We're triangulating it as we-" Mera cut herself off as one of the mages behind her approached with a scroll. She took the scroll and I could see several symbols rise up from it. "Ah, here we are. It's about a few hundred miles south of Poseidonis, in an unmarked valley-" She cut herself off, her eyes going wide and the blood draining from her face.
"What is it?" Superman asked.
"I… I'm not certain. I need to confirm something first."She looked back at the screen, her expression frantic. "I'll contact you again when I'm sure." And then the screen closed.
I huffed. "And of course she runs off without even saying what she was worried about. I'm sure that won't bite us in the ass."
Batman ignored my snark and turned to his fellow Leaguers. "We need to initiate Global Emergency Protocols. Superman, you go to Atlantis and help Aquaman find the source. Wonder Woman, go to DC and assure the government we're working on this before rendezvousing back with me." The other two nodded, and he looked back to us. "Remain here until we contact you."
"And where are you going?" Superboy asked, hands on his hips.
"Watchtower." He said simply. "We need to be prepared for anything that may result from this, and the Watchtower is the best place to coordinate the rest of the League."
"Fair enough, but, and not to harp on this point," I spread my arms. "What do we do?"
Batman was already heading to the Zeta Tube, and called back to us "Wait until further instruction. We need to know what we are up against." The three of them faded into the golden light and disappeared.
As soon as they were gone, Kid Flash threw his hands up in the air. "Is it just me, or are they getting even worse than usual?! Now it's like they don't want us doing anything at all!"
"Well, Batman has a point about getting more information." I pointed out. "Right now all there is to go off of is a spot in the middle of the ocean, which the League is already headed towards. Do you want to just fly out there?"
"Yes! It would be better than doing nothing!" He insisted. "We can't even gather info if we stay in the Mountain."
"Speak for yourself." I said, and with a wave of my hand the dozens of screens formed up behind me. "I'm keeping an eye on every information network I can find. If something happens, it won't be long before we know about it."
He settled down a little, but he still didn't look that happy. "Waiting isn't my thing..." he muttered.
He wasn't alone at being unhappy with the situation, but without a clear target there wasn't much we could do. The team settled into scrolling through the massive amount of data I was pouring into the Mountain's computer to try and find anything I might have missed, with various degrees of enthusiasm. I while I expected some tension, there was one of my team in particular that was showing an unusual amount of nervous fidgeting and stress. Unusual for her, anyway.
Keeping my attention split, I moved up next to Troia. "You okay?"
"I think so," She said, her hand going to her chest again. "I'm still feeling… I guess I'd call it anxiety, but since I know what's causing it, I can handle it." A huff. "I just wish I was doing something about it."
We fell back into silence, and for a few seconds I thought that would be the end of it. As I refocused on the news feeds though, she said "I tried finding her, you know."
"Huh?" I looked back at her.
"Nyx." Troia continued. "I'm not dumb. When none of the gods stepped forward to 'claim' me, I started putting the clues together. My fondness for the night sky, how I need to sleep less… it painted a pretty clear picture. But no one knows where she is anymore, and just like the rest of my past I'm left without answers." She let out a breath and looked down at her outfit. "Which makes me wonder if Hephaestus was making fun of me when he made this."
I blinked, remember what the God of the Forge had told me. "Well, he told me he got the material for it from Nyx herself… I think specifically for you."
He head snapped up to look at me. "Wait, what? But… that would have to have been after she disappeared."
"Before you ask, I don't know." I said. "He only mentioned it in passing and I… was quickly distracted by other things."
Troia briefly looked annoyed, but it passed quickly. "...Thanks. That's more than I had to go on before."
"I'll help you look into it after all this is over." I told her. I supposed I needed to give Hephaestus an answer while I was at it. "In the meantime, does your maybe-connection to Nyx give you any insights into what's happening?"
"Not really," She said, her gaze settling on the feed of the sky just outside of the Mountain. "Just the sense that this is wrong. This shouldn't be happening, it…" she trailed off for a moment, her head tilting to the side as her eyes narrowed. "There's something wrong with the stars," she muttered.
"Well yes, I don't think they're supposed to be flickering that much."We looked to see that Miss Martian had floated near us. "At least, in Earth's atmosphere. Or have such strange colors when I see them out of the corner of my eye."
"No not that." Troia waved her off. "Something else…" She trailed off before it clicked. "I don't recognize any constellations."
I hummed before I checked the fake sky against star charts, and she was right. I supposed it could just be part of the spell and it didn't mean anything, but seeing as I had some time… I pulled all the star chart's that the league had on file, gathered from the Hawks and the Lantern Corps to see if I could get a match. Though, even after building a comprehensive model, I didn't get anything. The closet match was still Earth.
Which got me adding in stellar drift into my model, and wouldn't you know it… "Interesting. It is actually Earth's stars. Or at least, what they would look like a few million years from now."
They looked at me for a moment before Miss Martian voiced the obvious question."But, why? Why would anyone do that?"
I shrugged, and offhandedly remarked "I don't know, maybe someone is trying to wake up Cthulhu."
…
"Wait, is Cthulhu real?"
I was met with a bunch of blank stares. A quick internet search told me that Lovecraft and his works did exist in this world, but considering what I knew about Thanagarian mythology… Oh god someone might actually be trying to wake up Cthulhu.
As if summoned by my own sudden existential dread (which felt like karma for some reason), an alert popped up on my feed. It was military, a high priority alert that the Watchtower had taps to pick up. Washington DC was under attack by…
I blinked a few times before I dove into the net, searching for any cameras I could hack into in the city. It didn't take me long before I found a security camera by the waterfront near the southern end, towards where the bay opened up into the ocean. By the time I got the visual up on the screen, I saw what I thought were infantry soldiers running away from the waterfront, and coming up out of the water after them was… fish people.
The stuff out of nightmares, they were roughly humanoid in shape though they were hunched over with long, muscled limbs. They were covered in mottled dark scales, with fins and translucent spines along their back. The head was the worse part, most resembling an angler fish with wide mouths full of needle teeth, and pale round eyes. Their spines glowed with bioluminescent light, casting all the ones I could see in an almost eldritch glow.
"Are those Deeps Ones?!" I yelled in panic.
"Trenchers… I think." Aqualad said. "But… they're not supposed to be that big, or move water like that." he pointed, and I noticed how the water seemed to stretch and cling to them, as if they were pulling the ocean with them onto land before it got too far and splashed to the ground. "And they should have been driven out of the Atlantic centuries ago."
"What do you know about them?" Starfire asked.
"No much. They were barely more than animals, feral raiders that attacked Atlantis for supplies. The histories don't go into much detail."
"Do your histories include the use of war shoggoths?" I asked, pointing at the screen as these creatures pulled… something out of the water. The best I could say was that it was a cross of a sea cucumber and a squid, scaled up to the size of a large van. It's tendrils flailed about as it pulled itself forward, and more of the ocean seemed to pull forward with it.
Fortunately, it didn't get very far before a blur slammed into it from above, shattering the concrete of the wharf. There was no sound, but I could imagine the horrifying nose as it was picked up and hurled back into the ocean. We then finally got a clear image of Wonder Woman standing there just before she sprung into action against the Trenchers.
Even as she fought though, more and more alerts popped up, and it was clear that this wasn't the only place this was happening. Lisbon, Miami, Dublin, and half a dozen other coastal cities around the Atlantic were reporting similar attacks. I was piecing the data together as fast as I could, but I wasn't seeing any kind of coordinated action or movement. "They're showing up all over different Atlantic coasts... but why are they spreading out like this?" I wondered out loud. "They could completely overwhelm a city if they stayed as one force."
"They do seem mindless." Kori remarked, watching as they attack Wonder Woman without care for themselves. "What is driving these creatures?"
Aqualad's comment of them being little more than animals didn't feel quite right. Yes, they weren't moving with intelligence, but they didn't have the sort of feral energy I would expect. They moved, well, fluidly. A sort of listlessness in every motion as if they weren't paying attention. Sleepwalking.
I found out why as one of them was flung towards the camera, and I noticed something strange before the camera was crushed from the impact. Rolling the footage back, I noticed a spot on the Deep One's head that looked wrong, and quickly realized why: There were metallic plates and shards that had been grafted into it. Those looked more 'grown' than installed, but I still recognized it. It was the same type of cybernetics that the Biaylan soldier back in Kyoto had.
"They're being controlled," I said. "By the same people who outed us."
"The Shadows found and mind controlled an entire sub-aquatic race?!" Robin yelled. "How?! How could they have done that without us finding anything out before now?!"
"Questions for another time," I said, packaging all the info I had just learned and sending it to the Watchtower. "But, if they're being controlled, that means that control can be broken. And I have run into that tech before, so I think I can do it. Of course, I need to find out just where their being controlled from-"
I didn't get to finish that thought, because at that moment the Mountain picked up another video feed. This wasn't due to one of my preset alerts, it picked it up because this feed was broadcasting out to every computer and TV it could reach, originating from the transatlantic communications cable.
At first the feed was so dark it was difficult to make out, all I could see for certain was the wavering stars above. Then a golden glow suddenly illuminated the scene revealing what looked like a high-tech submarine floating in the middle of the ocean. On the center of the main deck stood a man in dark 'scaled' armor, his upper face covered by a finned helm. In one hand he held a golden trident, glowing with a golden light as he held it over his head. It was hard to tell due to the color of the glow, but something seemed… off about the pallor of his exposed skin.
"People of the surface!" His voice managed to boom over the sound of the ocean surrounding him. "I am Ocean Master, and as of this moment, I am now king of all the oceans of this world!"
Behind me I could see Aqualad tense up. I know he had tangled with the terrorist in the past, but this was getting to him more than I would have thought. Then again, an enemy of the state just proclaimed himself king of his home, so…
On the screen, Ocean Master continued. "This night is only a taste of the power I wield. My control over the seas is absolute, the army I command is unyielding, as several surface cities can now attest." Even in the dark of night, I could see 'shapes' moving about around the vessel, just underneath the water's surface. "The cities of Atlantis will either soon come under my rule… or be destroyed. In either case, you may consider any treaties with them null and void."
The man moved towards the camera, a slow swagger in his step. "But before you assume what relationship you can expect between the land and the sea, an example is to be made." The camera turned, and I saw in the distance an oil rig, lit up by countless lights around it's frame. "And the lesson to be learned… is that you surface dwellers shall bow in deference!"
I could see the tip of the trident extend forward from the edge of the screen, and with that motion a wave built. It careened towards the oil rig, growing bigger and bigger with each passing second. It was at least 100ft tall by the time it reached the platform. It hit the metal structure with a deafening crash, but the wave didn't break. It slowed and acted like a solid wall that crushed the platform between it and the ocean's surface. In moments, the entire platform was completely annihilated.
"That… should be impossible." Aqualad. "Control of that much water is beyond even our greatest mages."
"Safe to say something is powering him up." I remarked darkly, wondering how many people I just watched die.
Ocean Master stepped back into frame, though I swore I saw the arm holding the trident tremble a little. "And I am not done yet. Before this night is done, I shall strike at the nations of the surface, stand at the ruin that was your assembly of power. And you shall know who commands this world." The line went dead.
The Mountain was silent for a long moment. This… had just gone from bad to worse. The last time the world had seen a threat this big had been the Apallexian invasion ten years ago. This was one of those 'save the world' moments.
The silence was ended when a screen with Batman appeared, on the emergency channel. He was broadcasting this to every League member at once."League, we are facing a Global level threat. Ocean Master has just claimed responsibility for the night veil as well as the creatures assaulting the coast. But his main target is Atlantis."
A series of images appear next to him, a swarm of Trenchers swimming past underwater mountains. "Aquaman is reporting an assault along its southern border. These things are attacking en mass, and spearheading straight for Poseidonis. They need to hold out until the rest of the fleet can return as reinforcements."
He continued "We need everyone we have working together to fight this. Assignments are as follows: Martian Manhutner and Green Lantern, go to Atlantis. Hawks, Miami. Flash and Green Arrow-"
While Batman was going down the list, Aqualad spoke in a low tone. "We have to help hold the line." he said. "If Poseidonis is under siege, they're going to need all the help they can get."
"That's going to be a problem for some of us," Starfire remarked in the same tone, looking at our more human teammates. "Not to mention you're the only one of us who has training in underwater combat."
"The Team will be of more use there than doing nothing." He insisted.
"We will not be doing nothing." She said, her tone turning resolute. "I promise you."
He didn't have a response, instead looking off to the side in frustration. His fixed on the image of the Trenchers, and I could have sworn I heard him mutter under his breath "Dolphin..."
And then, the Mountain sent me yet another priority alert. Considering how many I had just gotten in the last hour, part of me wanted to ignore it and focus on my team. But, that wasn't really an option. Holding in a sigh, I took in the report. "...New York City has just lost power and gone dark. Like, all of it." This was particularly strange because out of all the coastal cities that had found themselves under assault, New York wasn't one of them.
Starfire looked over at me. "Has it fallen under attack?"
"I don't know-" I started to say before I shook my head. "Ok, no, with everything going on it's definitely under attack, I'm just not sure by what and how." New York was powered by a lot of different sources these days, it was a lot harder to take out the entire grid. Which meant someone was putting in the effort. But the Trencher hadn't shown the intelligence to try attacking infrastructure. And if it was Ocean Master, why only this city?
"It could be some other supervillain," Artemis said. "Taking advantage of the situation."
"Maybe..." I muttered, though I had trouble buying it. If it was Ocean Master, what was in New York City that he would want-
"...'assembly of power'." I said to the room, before looking back at everyone. "That's what Ocean Master said. But what if he was being literal? The simplest way to strike at all the nations of the surface..."
"U.N. headquarters!" Robin shouted. "It's exactly the kind of dumb thing a villain on a power trip would do! Destroy the symbolic heart of their enemy!"
"Team." Batman's voice cut in, and we turned to see that he had finally gotten around to addressing us. "Your mission is to aid Zatara in locating Ocean Master. Find him and report the situation back to us."
I briefly wondered how he expected us to help find a man somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, but then the rest of my brain caught up. "Already ahead of you. New York City has gone dark. We have reason to believe that Ocean Master intends to attack U.N. Headquarters."
There were a few seconds where he checked the console in front of him before Batman replied "Likely… but that means our options are limited. The night veil is disrupting EM signals, anything that's not a hardline or short range isn't getting through. Which means there's no way to get to the New York Zeta Tube."
"What? How the hell does that mean we can't use our point-to-point teleporter?!"
"The Zeta Tubes still use classical signals for verification and encryption. Even if the generators are keeping them on, they can't get signal if all the lines around them have no power. And the night screen is preventing us from direct contact with the Watchtower."
"But we have the bioship!" Robin cut in. "We could be there in no time!"
Again, Batman paused before speaking. "Once your mentors finish at their respective locations, we'll come to New York. You are not to been seen together or engage Ocean Master until we-"
"Is this really what you want?!" Starfire suddenly shouted over him. "We are the only ones who can reach the city fast enough to render aid! Would you rather leave a city undefended than risk us doing the job you've already had us doing? Or are you worried that we'll be seen and you'll look bad?"
"This is not the time to discuss this." Batman snapped. "Yes, this situation is ideal to deploy you, but that is suspect in itself. The people who are targeting you and behind this. If they know enough about your capabilities, it stands to reason they know you'll be there."
"And so what if they do?" She shot back. "We won't let fear stop us from saving this world. From saving the people in it. Why can't you just trust we know how to keep ourselves alive?"
"You are not ready for this-"
"That's not your call to make anymore! I have fought and bled beside my team, and I know what they are. I know what they're capable of and how far they'll go to do what is right. They are heroes, and we don't need you to acknowledge it to do our duty. But if you have any respect for those you command, you need to acknowledge it for yourself."
Batman's jaw tensed, and for a moment I thought he might burst into yelling. But then… he went slack. For the first time since I met him, the man visibly slumped and looked tired. Even through the mask I could see the weariness in his face, the stress he had been holding back. It was only for an instant, before he regained his composure. When he spoke, he was quiet and resigned. "Go." he said, looking at Starfire before glancing at me. "Keep them safe." He signed off.
I took a deep breath. And activated War Protocols.
The Mountain came alive as everything I had ever built into the place powered up. Every drone activated and headed to the armory, which was already packaging it's contents up. At the same time, I put out the call.
[Ted, Serling, Rommie, Tornado… anyone who can hear me. New York is under attack. We're going. This one's serious.]
I looked to Starfire, who nodded to me. I looked to the rest of the team. "Alright people, head to Moya, our equipment will meet us there. Though you're going to have to gear up on the way."
"Uh, we are already geared up." Kid Flash pointed out.
At that moment, a small swarm of drones entered the main hall carrying numerous equipment that had come straight from my tech lab. I grinned.
"Not quite."
=====A=====
A/N: This one took a while. There was a lot I wanted to put in and do right without dragging too much.