Finding the names and faces of Intergang's top leadership was actually strangely easy, given vague recollections from the comics and the right Internet searches. Add in information from Gabriel's own connections, and I knew of two major names: Bruno Manheim and Whisper A'Daire. The former was the one I recognized from the comics, or maybe the cartoons – he was little more than a street thug type in the stories I rremembered. A'Daire was a complete unknown, and all we could find of her records were scattered references to her high school attendance in a New Jersey suburb and a career connection profile online that had not been updated since 2007.
Wild that 2007 was only three years ago in this world.
Manheim was more prolific – street addresses, a business license, and a phone plan for a Lex-brand smart phone that was likely a burner. Kyle had commented that this could easily be just another alias, rather than a proper name, but I did not have enough to guess.
I had checked the addresses. I had pinged the smart phone. I had scoured social media – nothing concrete, but I had taken dozens of photographs of the empty warehouse and abandoned apartment in case I might find something later. Bruno Manheim, for all conventional means of investigation, was a ghost, and A'Daire was even more obscure.
"Other known associates?" I finally had asked Gabriel, but the Plumber had little to connect the dots to anyone else. "What about specific brands of tech? Could we track alloys or maybe energy signatures?"
"That is a good idea," the man had agreed. "I'll run potential options through the records I have of past dealings, even potentially sealed court documents. Someone will illuminate an avenue to pursue."
"Why can't you just wait for them to move?" Kyle had asked, while he had adjusted a bandage on his lower hip from his latest implant.
"Not how I like to do things, if I can help it," I had argued. "I do not like the mentality that we should passively wait for crimes to happen. We know Intergang are up to shady business somewhere, we merely have to find them."
It was not like we were punishing them for things they had yet to do. Their work gave them an intergalactic and Earthbound rap sheet a mile long.
When it was clear that nothing new was going to happen yet again, Gabriel had shrugged it all off. "Nothing we can do immediately. In America, it's the Fourth of July. Celebrates the country's independence from its former leader. Go have some fun, take a rest. Kyle and I are going to spend some time with his mother, if you wanted to-"
I had shaken my head immediately. "No, thanks. Appreciate the offer, but I have some patrolling to do. Big holidays are bound to bring out the crazies."
The father and son duo – present and future Plumber – had relented the point eventually and had allowed me to leave the Sector House and fly back to Earth to enjoy the festivities in my own way.
Even in my first life, holidays that were not Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Halloween did not resonate with me. On Osmos V, what holidays we celebrated were hard to really grasp as well, because I felt not Osmosian. Now, I had the chance to enjoy watching someone explode hundreds of dollars worth of work for a fifteen-second light show, but was that really worth it?
I did have the opportunity to see a fireworks show in a major city, this time. What better place than Washington D.C. to celebrate? At the end of the day, fireworks were fireworks, but I could enjoy a patriotic song or two in the nation's capital. That was a unique experience for me in either lifetime.
Hmm.
I could go anywhere, do anything.
What would Ramadan feel like overseas? Saint Patrick's Day in Ireland? Valentine's Day in Paris or Venice? And, well, what kind of holidays do the Martians celebrate?
I made a mental note to experience those holidays at some point. For now, as I flew back to Earth with no new answers about Intergang in tow, I angled not for New York City but instead for Washington D.C. I'd keep my eyes and ears open for any sign of trouble, but I really wanted to a barbecue sandwich, a big bucket of chili fries, and a tub of ice cream to wash it all down. A nice meal and a fun light show were on the menu for the day.
WASHINGTON D.C.
JULY 4, 16:48 UTC -4
TEAM YEAR ZERO
Troia wished she knew exactly where she went wrong. Stuck in the embassy with a pile of study materials in front of her, she lightly blasphemed against Hephaestus that anything remotely resembling the modern education system of Man's World had been invented.
Not that he was likely the one who inspired such a system, but she was frustrated enough to blame someone regardless.
Etta Candy – a dark-skinned rather plump woman with a pixie cut and a pinstripe pant suit that revealed her advanced age – filtered yet another phone call away to the correct person on staff before clearing her throat. "Troia, dear, I think it would do you well to take a break."
The woman leaned over the counter in front of her desk to survey the stack of books stretched across Troia's tabletop. Three notebooks were open to various pages, while notes were scrawled in English, Latin, and Greek across the margins and within the lines. Troia wrote notes in triplicate, one per language, in the hopes that it would help solidify the history of modern American hegemony into her mind.
"I can't afford to wait, Etta," Troia said with a frustrated sigh. "There are only two weeks before the Fall semester entrance exams. I have to get in. If I don't, then the Queen won't let me stay."
Etta clapped her hand. "Dear, you've been writing so long that even your pretty little fingers are cramped. A break until tomorrow would be best."
Troia denied the situation again. "You don't get it."
"No, I do. I once put all of my eggs into one unreasonable basket – so to speak," the secretary replied.
"What happened?"
A proud little smile stretched across the elderly woman's face. "I became your elder sister's closest confidante and worked to advocate for the Amazons in the United States." The woman cleared her throat. "As glamorous and as easy as that sounds, it was anything but, dear. I put my own life, my own decisions on hold to follow her. The fact that my life is richer for it now is a plus, but I'd do it all again even if I became destitute and failed on behalf of Themiscyra to help relations."
Troia had no clue what to say to that, and every response she considered in her head sounded wrong. Finally, she said, "Do you think I will fail?"
The secretary blushed. "N-no, dear. All I am suggesting is that having a back-up plan is a surefire way to stay invested in the route of your future. If you do not get to enroll at this particular school, there are more ways to appease the Queen."
Troia supposed that made sense. At the end of the day, she likely would nor learn anything she did not know that would stick with her. No, instead she was there for the chance to stay long term in Man's World. She detested the place and what it historically stood for, but she could see beyond the propaganda to know that there must be some merit. The "evils of men" were certainly present, but not as pervasive as her tutors Phillippa or Artemis wished her to believe.
"This is my best chance right now," she argued, but Etta wasn't having it.
"Ma'am, you must know that you'll live indefinitely. Why the rush?"
Troia pursed her lips. "Etta, please just leave it well enough alone."
The woman paused, considering. "A coffee break, then?"
Troia's eyes glimmered at the opportunity. "I know just the place for it, then."
Minutes later and with the phone lines redirected to voicemail, Troia led Etta Candy to the rooftop of the embassy. Each carried a large thermos in their hand filled with the closest thing to nectar the mortals would ever produce. They sat companionably on the edge of the roof, several stories above the sidewalk, and had a fascinating view of the city skyline from here.
"Don't you wish you could only see the world from up here?" Troia asked, earning a head tilt from the elderly secretary.
"I imagine it looks even more differently while flying under your own power," Etta said with a chuckle. "You and Diana are quite lucky in that regard."
The Amazon glanced downward to study the pedestrians who carried on with their business, day in and day out. From here, the mortal men and women of Man's World were little different from her own people. Less clean overall, perhaps - and twice as male. From this vantage point, she could almost entirely ignore the moral depravity – only almost, though, because there were all manner of alarms, sirens, and police lights in the distance.
Troia must have stared in that direction for too long because Etta cleared her throat. "You can go there, you know."
The eternal teenager pulled out of her reverie. "Hmm? – oh, no. I couldn't. After the last time, that would be a mista-"
"After you successfully ensured the Parthenon would have a future?" Etta pressed. "Whether you were there or not, that monument was the target. Was it coincidence you were there?"
That was the question that worried her.
Had she merely been in the right place at the right time? Had the Angler planned for her to be there? Had one of the Olympians meant for her involvement?
…
Did one of them intend for her to rush off in the distance toward the emergency?
Troia had almost made up her mind – had almost refused the call – when she spotted the smoke rising on the horizon. She met Etta's gaze and then nodded once, rising into the air and flying swiftly toward the danger. Troia did not miss the proud smile on the woman's face as she turned toward the horizon.
WASHINGTON D.C.
JULY 4, 15:56 UTC -4
TEAM YEAR ZERO
I stretched my fingers and joints then my shoulders. I'd expected nothing more than the usual smoke in the air after a grand fireworks display in the capital. What I had not expected at all were a series of emergency first responders running interference after an explosion rocked a building a block away from the Potomac. The column of smoke that rose into the late afternoon air was quite spectacular, and I was glad to have arrived quickly enough in the process before every government agency sent response teams to investigate its potential source.
I approached the building from the air, touching down upon the sidewalk nearest to the front entrance. The eastern side of the building was wrecked – they were lucky that its structure was overall sturdy, but every window had shattered under the heat and flames licked at the air outside and belched smoke. Several firetruck teams were already hard at work, and more would be on the way within the half-hour.
I approached the lead of the nearest team quickly, mask uncovered at the moment while he prepped to potentially enter the building and evacuate if needed. He immediately barked for me to stay back, but I ignored him and lightly lifted off the ground.
"Anyone still inside?"
"We, uh, got a list of personnel on site," the portly man finally stated. "Most off for the Fourth, or this would be much worse. Y-you going in?"
"Yep. No special firefighting powers, but I can fly people in and out." I gripped the truck and formed a metal armor over my skin. "Know how it started?"
The man merely stared at me with wide eyes like saucers for a long moment and then shook his head, recovering. One of his crews angled down the hose in shock at seeing me, spraying the side of the building uselessly before re-aiming properly.
"Labs like this? It's usually an electrical fire from malfunctioning equipment or improper storage of chemicals."
I glanced toward the sky and pointed. "I imagine it would be far easier to put out if it was just some idiot with a firework?"
He lightly shrugged. "Probably. Listen, be careful. In and out. You still gotta breathe, right?"
I just laughed and zipped up into the air, holding my breath indefinitely. The worst the smoke could do to me was limit visibility. As far as I was concerned, the fire itself wasn't the challenge for me but getting anyone out was, and I angled toward the open window of this Cadmu-
Cadmus.
Oh. Fuck.
I was in Washington D.C., and all I could think about was the season-long conspiracy against superheroes featured in Justice League Unlimited. A government agency that wished for the downfall of the heroic hubris of characters like Superman, one that Amanda Waller, Wade Eiling, and Emil Hamilton ultimately engineered to take down the League. They mass-produced clones as weapons, ferretted away secret plots and experiments like Doomsday, and crafted narratives to ensure that the public did not trust the Justice League.
The scariest part?
They won.
Not in a direct, "arrest all the heroes" sort of way, but in the court of public opinion. The League had had to change its mode of conduct to appease the masses, operate more in the open, and dismantle the Watchtower.
As bad as all of that was to think about, simply seeing the name of that organization on the side of this building – a damn genetics lab, no less – had me worried about what I was going to walk into. There had to be some mad science down there. If I cracked the case, then that's another feather in my cap to prove to the League my cooperation and merit.
I raced into the building and called out for any who needed my assistance, ignoring the way the heat licked at my metallic armor. The layers of water on the floors and walls were depriving fires of their oxygen, and eventually, they'd succeed. I could speed up the process by simply absorbing the raw kinetic energy of the heat, but I'd just as likely lose my inhibitions as the power supercharged me. I did not need to lose my head in all of this, especially if this Cadmus was as deep as the JLU cartoon.
I'd keep it as a last resort if things got worse.
A pair of researchers were trapped behind burning wreckage, and it was easy to lift it out of the way and give them room to flee. Directly touching hot flames stung even through the metal armor, but it was little more than pain I could endure.
They coughed through the smoke, covering their mouths with their lab coats and dashed toward the nearest exit. I followed them but had to leave them behind when I spotted more survivors, and within two minutes, I'd saved a half-dozen employees without fanfare. Depositing the latest of them on the lawn outside, I raced back inside for more and nearly flew right into someone I did not expect at all to see.
"Kid Flash?"
The yellow-suited speedster grinned and offered a fist bump, which I accepted if only out of shock. What was he doing out of Central City?
"Don't have time to talk – gotta clear the rest of this place out," he said simply, pulling down goggles over his eyes. He vibrating his hand in front of his face so fast I couldn't track it, creating a funnel of clean air around his head. "Help the others!"
He zipped away before I could ask whom he meant. Was the Flash here?
Surprisingly, it was Aqualad of all people I saw next, dousing flames by directing the firetrucks' jets of water using his water bearers. It was impressive to see his tattoos alit as he directed their flow, and I felt the tension of the ongoing fire threat slowly fade with him around.
Was it fair to think of him in Pokémon terms?
"Aqualad, you're here too."
The last I saw him was in the Indian Ocean, stopping an undersea threat from harming delicate international nuclear peace.
"It is a surprise to see you again, Cassian, but not an unwelcome one," the Atlantean stated, powering down his magic and holstering his tools. "Did a fire in another city interest you so much?"
"I could ask you the same thing," I redirected. "I came to D.C. for this holiday. Didn't expect this would be how I spent it."
"Truthfully, neither did I," Aqualad answered. "Robin, Kid Flash, and I-"
Robin was here too?
"- came to investigate this fire at Cadmus, a research lab that the Batman has been investigating for months."
Oh, hearing that confirmed my suspicions that this was a big damned deal.
The Boy Wonder and the Fastest Kid Alive appeared at the edge of the fire-singed room. "Building's clear," the latter said with a thumb to his chest.
"Cassian, fancy seeing you here."
These three sidekicks were in one place at one time, something that may never have happened before. The only one missing was Speedy. I couldn't help but articulate that thought, but Kid Flash exaggeratedly sighed. "I don't know what's going on with Speedy. He might have been here with us too, but he… walked out on us earlier."
At that, I got a quick run-down of what had happened earlier – the parts Robin thought I should know. The sidekicks were supposed to be taking the next steps on their journeys as League members and see the Hall of Justice for the first time. During the meeting, Speedy stormed off because they weren't being treated to the whole truth, whatever that meant. The meeting ultimately ended abruptly when the League had to rush to stop a major supervillain threat, but not before learning of this fire at Cadmus.
"So the three of you decided to disobey Batman and investigate this?"
Robin sheepishly grinned. "When you put it like that, it sounds worse than it is, but he didn't explicitly say not to look into Cadmus."
I couldn't help but laugh at the logic, but I wouldn't turn down the help. "Well, I wanna see what's going on here too. If Batman's got his eyes on this place, then there's bound to be something bad happening."
Robin tensed before he could respond, and the eyes behind his mask were not looking at me but instead over my shoulder. I turned, surprised to see the familiar face of the Amazonian who could easily one day be Wonder Woman's sidekick. She eased into the room from the windowsill.
"I want in, too." I waved at her, and she waved back a little uncertainly.
Kid Flash chuckled, though his eyes did not leave the elder teenager. Dressed in civvies, she was the most out of place visually, but I knew she fit in comfortably with respect to skills. His face was somewhat red beneath his mask. "Is anyone else gonna pop up to join us?"