RichardWhereat
Feanor did nothing wrong.
- Location
- Australia
I deally liked the chapter too. But, damn, who wouldnt wanna go offworld to a melting pot trade planet? Seems like a great place to start interplanetary diplomacy from.
Assimilation [Young Justice SI]
- Thread starter Satire Swift
- Start date
- Location
- Christchurch, NZ
"Don't worry, you were going out with Hal Jordan at the time"
Shayera raises an eyebrow.
"Er, I mean that it's obviously an alternate you, not... you know what, I'll shut up now."
I haven't seen this episode in forever, but I think it was so they had humans helping them build it fast enough for something? Could just be headcanon though.
Toruushin
Roma says “UMU!”
- Location
- United States
Bruh.
W YU DO DIS?! Damned cliffhangers and their addictive properties...
So what might you want that you can't get on Earth? I can name a couple of things, but I think this might have something to do with a problem you had in one of the previous chapters...
- Location
- Elsewhere
Yes, who needs useful, specific information when you could get a vague warning that inevitably leads you into danger blind?
And suddenly comics make sense.
- Location
- Hampden Park
Unless you changed it, that isn't what happened in Young Justice. Mr Garrick gave him the formula after he asked for it for the express purpose of superheroing. Yes, Mr Garrick had the ability to give anyone superspeed at any point.
choices
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
I just assumed he was humoring the kid for funsies, myself.
- Location
- Elsewhere
Mostly this. Jacob doesn't know the details himself, and just guessed based on what he heard from Wally. Barry decided to roll with it.
- Location
- texas
Well the way I saw it, he did make a superspeed serum.
Making it is still the right term even when using a formula.
He never said he invented the formula, however.
- Location
- Arizona
Well, since I personally have started reading this for the Starfire parts (even though the machina bits are cool too), I'm hoping Machina is wanting to go to the trade world to find a gift for Starfire. Something from Tamaran, maybe some ingredients for a tsmaran dish, hell, the idea of a ring even popped into my head at one point.
In all seriousness, Solar Space Princess brightens up everyones' day(s).
In all seriousness, Solar Space Princess brightens up everyones' day(s).
Neruz
Rogue Spiderbanana
- Location
- The Land of Fire and Poison
Reed Richard's uselessness ain't got nothing on YJ Mr. Garrick. He has a reproducible superspeed serum? And he's done basically nothing with it? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
For gods sake, he could at least have given a dose to Batman. Superspeed Batman would be unstoppable. Might even give Batman the edge he needs to actually fix Gotham up a bit: Joker escapes from Arkham, then just as his foot comes down on the ground outside there's a blurry moment and he's back in prison again.
Joker: THIS ISN'T FUNNY BATS!
Disembodied Batman Voice: I disagree.
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- Location
- texas
He at least gave the formula to Barry Allen, which eventually led to Wally and Bart, so he continued his legacy.
But Kent Nelson? He had 65 years to teach someone magic. The fact that apparently he never did bugs me.
- Location
- Hampden Park
I blame Nabu for that. He didn't exactly give the best impression of the field.
- Location
- texas
According to word of Greg Kent remained Dr Fate after shelving Nabu using the half helmet ala the comics.
Considering the JSA disbanded in 51 and Nabu was shelved in 45, Kent might have been Dr Fate longer without Nabu then with, presuming he remained active until the JSA disbanded, of course.
I wouldn't say it's impossible that he used magic as a superhero but didn't feel right about teaching it, but that does seem odd to me.
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Interlude 3
- Location
- Elsewhere
=====A=====
Karas caught himself about to nervously scratch at the scales on his forearms before he forced the limbs down, covering the motion by sorting through some of the inventory on the counter in front of him. Enough of that, he thought to himself. You're almost there. Just a little more money and you're off this blasted rock. The beleaguered merchant had arrived to Selac-4 with high hopes of starting a decent trading business he could pass on to his sons. After all, it was one of the best trade planets in the sector. And besides, it was a Thanagarian protectorate; so long as he followed the rules, he'd be much safer on the planet than braving some of the interstellar routes like his brother had.
But, the planet had not quite been as advertised. The Thanagarian garrison on the planet had been understaffed for years, and as a result organized crime had flourished. Nothing obvious or destructive, but enough that there was a stranglehold on most urban population centers. Karas had to deal the Eclipse cartel in the city he settled in, and they took their cut at every opportunity. Protection, kickbacks, 'discounts' for members, the merchant could barely survive. In fact, he wasn't; by his estimate he would be broke by the end of the cycle. He had to get off the planet before that happened.
Again, Karas glanced at the potential customer he had managed to bring into his shop. Stack, as he introduced himself, was wrapped in a dark green cloak that covered much of his form, and a hood pulled up over his head. It was not enough to hide that the biped was fully armored underneath it, though the completely blank face mask he wore put him Karas more on edge than anything else. Mercenaries in full power armor weren't uncommon on Selac-4, but Karas didn't recognize the smooth silver-grey plating, and the lack of a face made him difficult to read.
Still, the shopkeeper was not one to turn away paying customer, especially one looking for something only he could provide. In light of all the 'fees' Karas had to pay to get most common goods and materials, the merchant had taken up purchasing more exotic and niche goods in the hopes that he could get a new clientele. Earlier that day, in the course of looking for that clientele, he had stumbled across Stack asking after some very specific material.
Good thing I made a connection with that Data Archivist when I first got here, Karas thought to himself as he watched Stack manipulate the array of holographic screens in front of him, carefully analyzing the data on them. While Karas couldn't provide the physical material Stack wanted, he did have a rather large store of data on his subject of interest, which the armored man was currently perusing. Well, a set of random excerpts from it, at least. Didn't want to just hand him everything, after all.
Finally, Stack finished and closed the window. "It is excellent," he said, in that familiar cadence of a low quality translator which Karas was unfortunately used to. "I will purchase all of it."
"Good, good." Karas said carefully, hiding his excitement as he slid forward on his sinuous tail. That was a lot of data the man was asking for, which meant a lot of money. "How would you like it transferred? Do you have a storage device of your own you would like to use, or would care to purchase one of my storage decks along with it? I assure you that they are all of high quality."
"I will buy a storage deck."
The two then proceeded to haggle out the price, for which Karas gleefully managed to get an excellent value on his end. He didn't fleece the man for all he was worth (a bad idea when dealing with mercenary types), but he made quite the profit nonetheless. It was surprising, though, to see a mercenary spend this much money on something other than weapons and gear. Karas had his suspicions, but he didn't feel the need to dig deeper.
With that done and money exchanging hands, the merchant slid into the back storage room to prepare the man's purchase, selecting one of his better storage decks off of the many hanging shelves. This was a rugged black box about the length of his forearm on each side, made for withstanding the wear and tear of a combative life style (a smart sale on his part). He could barely contain his excitement as the data transferred into the deck, but a sudden noise brought his attention to the door along the back wall. It sounded like there was someone shuffling outside.
Before he could investigate, the back door burst open and a group of six Korugarans rushed in, pistols and electro-blades at their hips. Karas flinched back in fear as he recognized them. No, I was so close! The men spread out and took position around the cramped space, and a second later another Korugaran strode in. This one's clothes were a little finer than the others, and he had an obvious mark of an eclipse on the muddy red skin of his neck. "Karas." Their leader said with a tight lipped smile. "What have we told you about being late with you payments?"
"T-Thran! I have the money!" Karas stuttered out as he moved up to the enforcer. "I just made a huge sale! If you could-"
"Ah, but payment was due yesterday." Thran said. "Still, let it not be said I'm not a generous man. I'll just take sale… along with maybe a few items to make up for your lateness. Consider it a late fee."
"W-what?! No! That's far more than-" Karas cut himself off as he felt a blade suddenly being pressed into his midriff. It was unpowered at the moment, but the merchant knew that could change in an instant.
"Karas," Thran said with a slimy smile, his yellow eyes boring into the other man's. "The first rule of negotiating is to do so from a position of strength, you know that. So you should know better than try to dictate terms right now. Unless you want to try to get a better deal with Vecnar?"
Karas shuddered at the name and shook his head. He then trembled in silent humiliation and anger as he saw the thugs start picking items off the shelves, including the storage deck he had been preparing. The merchant closed his eyes. I'm never getting off this planet, he lamented. I'm going to die here, broke and in a gutter-
"Excuse me." Karas opened his eyes as everyone stopped and turned to look at Stack, who had apparently wandered in the back room to see what all the fuss was about. After a long pause he pointed at the storage deck one of the thugs was holding. "That is mine. I bought it."
The thug looked nervously between the large, armored man and his boss. For his part, Thran steeped forward. "Yeah? How much is it worth to you?"
"…The amount I already paid for it."
Thran smirked. "Well, then you'll be willing to pay for it all over again, won't you?"
"…Are you being serious?"
This caused Thran to chuckle. "Position of strength, my friend. We out number you considerably, and while that armor looks very nice we have a lot of experience and fun tools for cracking armored targets. So, I suggest you either pay up or leave. Unless you think you have something else to offer?"
"Well…" Karas saw the man's cloak start to shift, and saw several unusual shapes moving beneath it. "I am full of very useful devices."
And then the violence began.
---------------------
You know what would be nice? Superman mused, looking out across the table as the various Justice League members took their seats at the table. If we could just once have the whole League meet and have it not be about business, especially business as unpleasant as this. He barely talked to some of his fellow League members simply because he never seemed to find the time, and he imagined that was the case for many of them as well. Maybe he could organize a potluck, like the ones they used to have back in Smallville…
For the present though, his friend started the proceedings as soon as everyone was settled. "You've all been briefed on the events that occurred in Bialya," Batman said without preamble, addressing the assembled Justice League members in the conference room. "Machina has been put on standby until we decide what, if anything, we are to do with him. The floor is open for those that want it."
Green Arrow leaned forward in his seat, a frown on his face. "Kinda surprised you just put him on standby, considering he's got over a dozen fatalities under his belt. Shouldn't he be locked up right now?"
Batman looked back impassively. "Machina's actions were in the defense of his team, and he submitted to his suspension willingly. I saw no reason to confine him further." Superman knew that Batman was leaving unsaid how difficult it would be to imprison the technomophic hero if he didn't want to be confined.
"And that means he gets a pass?" The archer said incredulously. "The man killed a bunch of people! And that aside, what happens if this gets out to the public?"
"Doubtful. From what I can understand, the base lost all of its computer equipment in the assault, and has no evidence. And Bialya does not want the attention that a full U.N. investigation would bring,"
"Even ignoring the legal side of things, I don't think we can just ignore this," Flash said. "I mean, yeah, bad things can happen in this line of work, but going out of his way to destroy an entire military base, killing soldiers? That's way beyond what a superhero should be doing."
Captain Atom had a different opinion though. "I've read the report and checked the intel on that base, and I'm actually surprised at how few fatalities there were. It speaks of someone using targeted strikes rather than simply destroying everything around them."
Green Arrow snorted. "Oh yeah, the fact that he carefully and deliberately killed several people is way better than him doing it at random. Seriously, do we want someone like that on the Team with the rest of the kids?"
"Aqualad has taken life before." Everyone turned to look at Aquaman, who was looking back at Green Arrow evenly. "Recently, in Black Manta's assault, he was forced to kill three of his soldiers. Do you think that Kaldur should not be allowed on the Team either?"
The archer looked admonished, and Batman stepped in. "In Machina's own words, while he did resort to lethal force to disable the military's ability to respond, he did not 'specifically intend to kill anyone'. While difficult to verify, I am inclined to believe him by the apparent survival of Queen Bee."
To be honest, Superman had been both relieved and surprised the Queen had survived, given what Batman had told him about her little 'message'. While she had been injured when Machina rescued Starfire, the reports Batman had shown him revealed that Bee had made a public appearance yesterday. Still, she looked quite rattled to Superman's eyes, and made him wonder what exactly had transpired on that plane. He looked at Black Canary. "I heard you had a session with him soon after the mission. What did you think of him?"
Black Canary frowned. "Jacob is… stable, at the least. He didn't show any signs of distress or trauma, but quite frankly it was hard to get a read on the man. He went on a few… tangents when I spoke to him, but I couldn't tell if he was trying to deflect or that is simply how he is."
"Did you try asking him about what happened directly?" Superman asked.
Black Canary shook her head. "No, I didn't want to push the matter so soon. But I would expect that he would ether talk about it or try to avoid it."
Superman hesitated before he said "I had a chat with him when we went to meet with Scott and Barda. He opened up to me about what happened."
The woman was surprised for a moment before she looked resigned. "Of course he did. I suppose it's more difficult getting someone to open up if they don't like you." She shook her head. "In any case, what did he say?"
"In short, that he wasn't happy with what happened, but he'd still do it again if he had to."
Lantern Jordan's mouth twisted. "Well, that's better than 'they all deserved it', but it still makes me uncomfortable. The thought process of 'I did what needed to be done' can lead to some equally bad things."
Superman nodded. "Agreed. I think he has a good head on his shoulders and will probably be fine on his own, but a little extra guidance couldn't hurt. With luck, we can avoid this sort of outcome the next time this sort of thing happens."
"And what if he can't?" Eyes turned to Hawkwoman, whose face was set in a stern expression. "I think he'll need a little more than just 'guidance' to prevent another potential international incident."
Batman gave her a stern glare of his own. "I fully intend to train him for how to approach situations like the one he was faced with, and in proper operational management and decision making."
"Thing is, I don't think you can." She shot back. "At least not for a covert, military scenario like that. You know how to handle things inside a city and against criminals, but military? You did not give those kids nearly enough support for an operation into enemy territory like that, especially one where they had to act in comm silence. Both Hawkman and I think the whole Team is being managed incorrectly. With that in mind, I think the mission in Bialya went about as well as could be expected, including Machina's actions."
"And what brought you to that conclusion?"
Hawkwoman was silent for a long moment, looking back at Batman. Finally, she said "Rules of Engagement specified they were to avoid alerting their target, or immediate exfiltration if they failed. That's it. In the case where exfiltration was not possible, they should fall back on other standing orders and procedures, but they had none as far as I know. No safe houses or rendezvous points outside of enemy territory either."
She straightened. "So, we have to look at this from a unit-value standpoint. The Justice League is, in my opinion, essential to global security and safety. And those kids represent potential future members. Considering how few your numbers are, losses are unacceptable. So, in short, I think Machina's actions to save the lives of his team were perfectly justified given the situation. If you wanted him to act differently, he should have been given more comprehensive standing orders."
Batman scowled. "The Team is not made of soldiers."
"Then why are you treating them like soldiers?" She shot back. "I've long since accepted the separation of police and military that this planet has, and how superheroes associate with the former, but you are clearly using this team for the latter. Covert operations require a great deal of care and skill, and are definitely outside of what this world considers policing actions. Which is to say nothing of sending them to a territory they're not supposed to be in."
"She's got a point," Green Arrow remarked, and all eyes turned to him. "I mean, that's not how I'd put it, but maybe we shouldn't be sending kids on missions like this."
"Then who do we send?" Aquaman asked. "We never would have learned about these… New Gods' interest in our world if a team hadn't been sent to Bialya. Clearly we need to have people carry out these sorts of operations, even if they have potentially distasteful results."
"This is way more than just 'distasteful'!" Green Arrow shouted back. "This is-!"
"Enough." Batman's words brought silence to the room. "We will discuss the Team itself in a moment. But first we need to come to a decision on what to do with Machina."
Green Arrow pressed his mouth into a thin line for several long moments before he sighed. "Alright, look, I guess I understand why things happened the way they did… but I do not want this to become a regular thing going forward. You asked me to join the League because you wanted me to keep you lot grounded, and this is leaning in a direction I don't like. But for now… I guess we'll just have to keep an eye on our dimensional traveler."
Flash spoke up. "I've got concerns about how Machina might influence the rest of the Team. They're kids after all, and they might start looking up to him in the wrong ways. But if Canary says he's good, then keeping him off missions for a while should be enough."
"Noted." Batman said before looking at Black Canary. "Black Canary, do you think any more disciplinary action needs to be taken against Machina?"
She shook her head. "I need more time with him before I'm ready to say that he can go back on missions, but that is all."
He turned to address the rest of the League. "Does anyone here have anything else they would like to say on the matter of Machina and his actions in Bialya?" He was met with silence, and nodded to himself. "Then he will remain on standby until Black Canary clears him for duty. Now, onto the matter of the Team itself…"
----------------------
"Did we lose him?!" The man at the controls yelled.
"Shut up and drive faster!" Thran shouted as he turned around in his seat, looking frantically out the back of the aircar for any sign they were being pursued. The tall buildings of the commercial district streaked by as the aircar wove its way through traffic. They were at a big risk of drawing attention from the authorities, but Thran just wanted to get away from that monster he had stumbled upon.
It was supposed to be a simple collection job, but that… mercenary was stronger and faster than anything Thran had ever seen. And the neural stunners his men carried hadn't done a damn thing. He was clearly full of cybernetic enchantments, given how his limbs opened up and revealed weaponry underneath, not to mention whatever else was hiding under his cloak.
His men had scattered soon after it became clear they we're going to win that fight, but the mercenary pursued. Thran had heard his men being picked off one by one over their comms, and now the man was after him. And the fact that he kept catching glimpse of the mercenary on nearby buildings from the speeding aircar caused his heart to race. Who the hell is this guy?! Boss would know about any merc that strong landed planetside, why wasn't I told?!
Thran fumbled with the communicator in the car's side console. "Vecnar! Someone interfered with pick up, a mercenary! Who is-"
A loud crash brought Thran's attention back towards the front, and to his horror he saw the armored figure of the mercenary crouched on the hood of the aircar. "Greetings!" He heard the man shout over the wind just before he plunged his hand into the hood of the vehicle. Electricity arced throughout the entire car, causing both Thran and the driver to scream and twitch. Though the haze of pain, Thran noticed that the car was quickly heading to the ground. Not quite crashing, as the vehicle's emergency landing functions activated, but it gouged a line through the pavement as it smashed into the ground and slowed to a stop.
The driver was out cold, but Thran had just enough motor function to stumble out of the downed vehicle and try to make a break for it. He didn't get very far before he felt something wrap around his legs, sending him tumbling downward. He twisted to see a grapple line attached to his legs, leading into the mercenary's arm, and was promptly reeled in like a fish. The mercenary hauled Thran up, propping him against the side of the wrecked air car. "The box. Where is it?"
He didn't catch the one who had it? Thran wondered. "It- one of the others took it! Probably back to our main base!" He said frantically. "It's probably there right now!"
The man made a sound that Thran couldn't place before he said "Where?"
Shaken as he was, Thran managed to laugh. "Like I'd tell you! Vecnar would kill me, and I'm way more scared of what he'll do to me then than what you can do to me now!"
Before the other man could say anything, they both heard a voice from inside the downed aircar. "Respond." A steely voice emitted from the comm Thran had been using. "Check, barren ground."
The mercenary looked at the comm before he reached out and grabbed it, ripping it from the aircar with his freehand. Thran flinched back as he saw his armored fingers change shape into spikes and pierce the sides of the device. "Talk." He ordered.
Thran looked back and forth from the man to the comm in his hands before he shouted "Bloody stars! Bloody stars!"
"…I see. Very well." Thran couldn't keep the grin off his face. He just gave the code that he was in trouble. Help would be arriving soon. If the Thanagarian police force didn't arrive first.
The mercenary's blank facemask looked at nothing for a long moment before he nodded to himself. "Good enough." He said, before tossing both the hardware and Thran aside, turning to walk away.
Thran look on in confusion before a thought occurred to him. "Wait, you couldn't track the source of that transmission that fast… could you?"
The mercenary looked back for a moment before he turned away, launching himself onto a nearby building and simply running up the side of it. As Thran watched the stranger disappear out of sight, he wondered if he was going to have to find new employment soon.
----------------------
"In all, the operation in Rhelasia was a success." Luthor said to the collection of shadowy figures on the monitors around him. "In time, we will be able to extend our influence through both Rhelasian governments, and from there the rest of south-east Asia."
"Excellent," Savage said. "Any trouble from our 'asset'?"
"No, he behaved himself." Ra's said. "His new handler managed him quite well. I expect we'll be seeing results on his infiltration efforts soon."
"I am still dubious about Sportsmaster's replacement…" The Brain groused. "There is no denying his competence, but I still feel we brought him in too early."
"Needs must when they must," Ra's retorted. "Besides, the League of Shadows has been scouting him for some time. We have means of applying leverage if he doesn't fit in as well as we hope." He made a small hum. "I am also surprised that you are voicing reservations about a new enforcer when you yourself sponsored an untested to join our number."
Their newest member chuckled. "What can I say, the Brain knows quality when he sees it." The Calculator said smugly, his lithe shadow shrugging on the monitor. "Besides, I'd like to think the amount of bribe money I've saved you all in the past few weeks alone by managing your digital footprints has more than earned the price of admission."
"We look for more than just money, when it comes to joining us," Savage said before he begrudgingly admitted "Still, there's no denying your usefulness. In any case, I suppose that wraps up our business today, save for one matter."
Luthor glanced at the blank screen at the end of the row, absent of the last member of their number. "I had been hoping that she would have recovered enough to join us by now…"
"Oh! Are we finally going to talk about that delightful little bit of chaos in Bialya?" Klarion crowed. Luthor still wasn't sure how the Witch Boy connected to these calls, but he swore that the shadow on his monitor took strange and monstrous shapes whenever he saw it out of the corner of his eye.
"I am still not entirely sure what happened," Savage rumbled. "All I heard was that one of Bee's operations went particularly poorly when those young heroes became involved."
Calculator barked out a laugh. "Yeah, that's one way to put having one of your bases torn apart and the plane you're on getting knocked out of the sky with you on it."
When Ra's spoke he sounded far less amused by this than the other man. "If I remember correctly, she asked you for aid during this whole debacle. Why didn't you assist her?"
The shadowy image of the Calculator put up his hands. "I offered my assistance to help with that alien sphere, but she told me to butt out. She wanted to prove she could handle it on her own. So what if she comes running to me later, saying she can't actually handle it?"
Klarion tittered. "You sure you weren't just afraid to face that machine that kicked your butt the last time?"
All the screens flickered for a moment before the connection cleared up. When the Calculator spoke, Luthor could hear him seething. "I will take apart that pile of metal bugs when I'm ready, not before. And definitely not when it's in the middle of a psychotic rampage."
"Curious," The Brain said. "This behavior is outside the parameters I had set for Machina. What caused the deviation?"
"Oh, I have a recording of what caused it," the Calculator said as he loaded up an audio file. "Seems Bee managed to capture their leader, and the machine is emulating human emotions. This is what she broadcast to him."
A moment later they heard Queen Bee's voice. "Bit of a handful to be honest, but we've managed. She too underestimated the technology I possess. Now, if you are listening and haven't already been blown to bits, I command that you surrender. If you don't, well… I'm sure that my men can find a use for her."
Luther quietly sighed and shook his head. Oh Bee, you never were as clever as you thought you were, he thought. The woman always did like to flirt with the outrageous, likely a result of having a power that turned everyone around you into sycophants. In all likelihood the woman hadn't even been serious with her threat, just wanting to provoke a reaction from the superhero. Well, she got what she wanted, it would seem.
The recording was silent for several long moments before white noise blasted from the speakers. It sounded all too much like a scream for Luthor's liking. Calculator turned it off a moment later. "And that's all there is for the next half-hour. All the equipment at the base is likewise fried or just has this on it."
Savage hummed. "Interesting… to see a hero react this violently in response to a threat. This could be a useful lever to control him."
"A lever to be used very carefully." Luthor insisted. "This is an excellent example of why we never back heroes into a corner, not unless we are absolutely certain how they will react." That was a lesson many people had learned the hard way over the past century, if only against minor heroes. Proving that a superhero wasn't the moral paragon they thought they were was a bit of a pyrrhic victory when they splattered your head against a wall, in Luthor's opinion.
"As Queen Bee has clearly learned," Ocean Master said, breaking his silence. "And what exactly has she lost us for her folly?"
"Aside from her own assets, the sphere robot is now with the Justice League." The Brain said. "I doubt any of the data she managed to collect survived, though to be honest I am more concerned about our ally finding out we lost their gift."
Savaged waved him off. "It is no concern, we all knew that was a paltry gift on their part. Unlike some of the other things that were lent to us…"
"Gentlemen," Luthor raised his voice. "We need to focus on the matter at hand. Namely the escalation that Machina's actions represents. If the League continues to field Machina in these sorts of missions, along with his willingness to get his hands dirty, this could seriously impact our plans."
"Surely we could just avoid provoking him like when he stumbles upon our operations?" The Brain asked.
"That is what I did, and yet it still cost me." Ocean Master grumbled. "He just had to show up in Poseidonis the day I was to enact my plan… I delayed it until he left, but as a result one of my more unruly subordinates got caught and set things back."
Savage grunted. "And with him as a part of this team that doesn't officially exist, it allows the League to get things done without sullying their image. How unexpectedly practical of them." He sat up straighter. "It is simple then. Machina must be controlled, countered or removed. Ra's, you have been looking into him. Do you have any plans ready to use?"
The other man sighed. "I am afraid not. For as free as he is with his name, Jacob Morgan is surprisingly difficult to track down. I… have some theories as to why, but I need more time."
"And I need more data," The Calculator growled. "I managed to extract a little information from the ruins of the base's computers on how it did what it did, but I need more."
"And while I have developed some counter measures to the technovore, none of them are guaranteed to neutralize him." Luthor lamented. "It seems we need the help of the good Dr. Rouquette, again."
"That will be difficult," Ra's replied. "She is being watched by both the authorities and the League at all times, and whatever Kord is doing with regards to her. While they are relatively hands off, I have no doubt that they have set up means to track her if she disappears again. We would need time to-" The man cut himself off, a thought occurring to him. "Remind me, wasn't Kord Technologies one of the companies that made a bid for part of the North Rhelasian reconstruction efforts?"
Luthor arched an eyebrow at the topic change. Part of the peace agreement between the North and South Rhelasias was that there would be aid to bring the North's infrastructure up to First World standards. While Lexcorp of course had gotten the best contracts due to Luthor's role in recent negotiations, there was too much work for his company alone. "Yes, if I remember they're building out communication networks in the rural parts of the nation. Why?"
"If she goes to Rhelasia with Kord, I think we may have our chance. It's not guaranteed, but we still have our agents in the region. As well, there were some other elements in the country I had planned on disposing of… but now I think they might be useful."
Before Luthor could ask for clarification, the screen that was meant for Queen Bee suddenly turned on. But it wasn't her silhouette that appeared on the monitor. "So sorry for being late," A masculine voice echoed over the comm, though there was an odd metallic rasp to it. "I came as soon as I saw you were convening."
"Who is this?" Ra's said, his voice sharp. "How did you access our communications?"
"I am General Harjavti" The broad silhouette shifted, and Luthor swore there was something slightly inhuman about it. "And as to the second question, I am using the equipment that my dear Queen Bee was given by you lot. And from hence forth, you shall be dealing with me."
"Hmm, he's not lying about the equipment," Calculator said. "Or at least he's in the same location."
Luthor was wary, but also curious. "And what of Queen Bee? Last I heard she was still alive."
"Oh, she is fine. The Queen shall still sit on her throne," Harjavti said in a smug, scratchy tone. "I simply managed to convince her to focus on the domestic matters she has been neglecting. She will just be taking a step back from more… taxing issues."
Luthor couldn't see it, but he knew Savage was frowning as he said "While I can appreciate ambition, we know nothing about you. Why should we allow you to take her place?"
"Aside from my control of Bialya, would you accept a reference?" The general said coyly. "I was there when that scrap attacked us, pressed into service by my beloved queen, and cast aside like meat. Our mutual ally found me, after I had been cast from the plane. He repaired my broken body, made it stronger through metal and pain. And through that I gained… a certain clarity of thought. I realized that my Queen may not have had what it takes to lead our nation to the glory it deserves, and that she didn't appreciate those under her."
Harjavti took a moment to calm himself before he laughed. "But, do not worry. While I intend to do better than she ever did, I promise to all of you that it will be business as usual."
----------------------
Vecnar groaned as he pulled himself out of the rubble of the collapsed wall, shaking his head to clear his vision. When his sight came back to him, a mix of rage and despair entered his chest as he saw the ruin that used to be his base of operations. The gambling den was in complete shambles, tables and machines shattered, his men knocked out all over the floor. And worst of all a massive hole punched through the roof, smoke flowing out of it into the sky.
There was no way the Thanagarians didn't see that. The Police Force would be here soon, and there was no way he'd be able to destroy all of his ledgers and assets before they got there. His entire operation was now compromised!
And he saw the cause walking out of the adjoining room, something griped underneath his arm. The man in power armor and green cloak. "You!" Vecnar snarled. "I've spent years building my power base on this world! Years subverting its government and eliminating all who opposed me! Who are you who thinks he can just walk in here and take it away from me!?"
The mercenary stopped, pausing slightly as he regarded the crime lord. "Stack." He said simply.
Vecnar spat as he leaned on the only unbroken table in the room. "Never heard of you. Who hired you? Was it the Five Sisters, trying to muscle in on my domain, the Blood Raider cartel out for revenge, or did the authorities decide to hire someone to do what they never could?" He sneered. "Or are you one of the many little insects I stepped on while I rose to the top, looking to get revenge yourself?"
Again, the man paused for a long moment before he lifted up the object he held under his arm: a data storage deck. "The box. One of your men took it after I bought it a few hours ago. I asked for it back. He refused." Another pause. "I took umbrage with this."
Vecnar blinked in confusion. "You… you assaulted my men and destroyed my base… because you wanted a storage deck back." A sickening realization set in. "You wouldn't have done any of this if we had just given it to you, would you."
"Probably." The mercenary confirmed before he turned and walked out. "Anyway, enjoy prison."
When the Thanagarian authorities finally arrived at the ruin that was the center of Vecnar's criminal empire, they found the crime lord on the ground laughing hysterically, tears in his eyes as if it was the funniest thing in the world.
----------------------
Koriand'r took in a deep breath as she watched the sun drift below the horizon, the sunset light illuminating the city below her. She had been told that New York City was one of the most diverse on the planet, and yet from up here she felt she could see the unity of it. All those people from different places in life, all bound to the ground yet all together in a city which reached up to the sky. And in a certain way, she was part of it too now as well.
My life has certainly taken an unexpected turn, she mused. Her whole life she had expected to rule her people and lead them in their seemingly endless war with those who sought to destroy them. Instead here she was, acting as a Warrior Justicar on an alien world full of both things mundane and fantastic. There was so much do and see on Earth, so much that was brand new to her, things she had never imaged she would get to experience or see. In a way, coming to Earth was one of the most exciting things to happen to her.
And yet, there were still moments like this, when the planet's sun set and the sky turned a shade of red that filled her heart with longing. For it reminded her of the home she could never return to.
"Starfire!" She snapped out of her thoughts to look down at the roof below her, seeing Sarah waving up at her. Casting aside her moment of melancholy, Koriand'r drifted down to the rooftop, setting down next to the brown skinned woman, who seemed a little frazzled as she searched through a bag at her hip. "Thanks again so much for cleaning up the playground area. You saved us so much money that we couldn't afford to spend. And the kids are always happy to see you."
Koriand'r smiled. "It is no problem. I am told that being a superhero is more than just fighting crime, and children should have the chance to grow and play." Sarah was the matron of an orphanage in the northern part of the city, and someone Koriand'r had run into on one of her patrols with Wonder Woman. The woman's compassion for those she looked after had touched something inside Koriand'r, so when she mentioned that her children had recently lost their play space, the Tamaranian jumped at the opportunity to help.
An abandoned building next to orphanage collapsed a short while ago, apparently a delayed result of damage done to it during the fight with Amazo. Thankfully no one was hurt, but much of the rubble spilled over into the orphanage's playground, burying it with dangerous debris. The city was dragging its feet when it came to cleaning the mess up, so Koriand'r offered to help clear the space. With her strength it was easy to sweep the rubble back into the other lot. There was still the rest of the playground to repair, but now that could actually proceed.
"I'm happy you at least think that…" Sarah muttered before she finally found what she was looking for, pulling out a piece of paper. "Here we go. Little Emily drew this for you." Koriand'r took the paper and saw that it was a crude drawing of herself in a dramatic pose, lifting a giant rock over her head. Next to her there was a smiling little girl with braids, and under it was the words "Starfire is Best!"
Warmth spread throughout Koriand'r and she clutched the drawing to herself. "This is wonderful. Tell her I love it." With that the two said their goodbyes and Koriand'r took off, flying back towards the closest Zeta Tube. Along the way, her comm started to buzz. "Yes?" she said expectantly.
"Starfire," Wonder Woman said on the other end. "I apologize, meant to contact you last night, but something came up in Greece. A minor riot. In any case, the League has come to a consensus."
Her good mood dampened a little bit. "I see." While she understood that the League was technically their parent organization, Koriand'r still wasn't sure why they had to have a meeting about Jacob's and the Team's actions during the last mission. She didn't see there was anything to discuss. "And what have they decided?"
"Machina's actions were justified." The other woman said. "We still need to be sure he's in a good place mentally, but as soon as that is certain, he can rejoin the team on missions. However, we also decided that we're not going to be sending the Team to non-U.N. affiliated countries anymore. At least for the foreseeable future."
"I see…" Koriand'r said slowly. "Are you displeased with our performance?"
"No, of course not, I fully believe you managed the best outcome despite what happened. Still, there could be… issues if such things happen again and the Team is connected to it. There are protections of course, but if you are not within a country which signed the U.N. Charter…"
"If this is such a problem, why were we sent in the first place?"
The other woman sighed. "Batman had certain 'ideas' about how he wanted the team to be used, but recent events have called the wisdom of his decisions into question. The League is a bit split on how they want to procced with you, but we all agreed you would need more specialized training before we let you attempt another mission like Bialya again."
Koriand'r hesitated for a moment before she said "In that case, we should bring the rest of the Team in on this issue. I believe we've had enough combat experience together that we can now properly determine our function as a unit."
"That… is really more of a League decision."
Frustration welled up inside Koriand'r, and she actually stopped in midair. "Diana… just what is my Team to you?"
"What? What do you mean?"
"You say you don't know what to do with us, but you don't want us deciding for ourselves either," She said. "Our general purpose is clear, but without effective direction of what this team is to accomplish, we can never be the best we can. And now you're saying that my team cannot even give our input on what we should be doing!"
Diana seemed taken aback. "I didn't mean that your input wouldn't be considered at all, only that the final decision rests with us."
"Which means that you are our superiors, but our groups barely interact outside of Red Tornado and Batman. On Tamaran a group such as ours would have far more independence in its operations due to this, but I feel you're restricting us too much for that to be the case. This team needs more support, or more independence from the League. And while I would appreciate the former, as the leader of my team I can assure you they would prefer the latter."
The other woman was silent for a long moment before she said "Perhaps… we can come to an arrangement. Batman of course will have his own view on this, but I will make sure that he listens to you without dismissing it out of hand. In the meantime, talk to you team. You'll be representing them."
Koriand'r let out a breath and resumed her flight. "Thank you, Diana."
"Of course. And Koriand'r… I am impressed with how you've handled being team leader." And with that the call ended.
Koriand'r let out a satisfied hum as she landed between buildings, in front of the doorway which hid the teleportation device. She couldn't wait to tell the rest of the team the news. She knew that Kaldur had gotten back from a recent excursion from Rhelasia, so she would likely have to wait till tomorrow to inform him. And as she walked through the doorway and the Zeta Tube activated, she tried to recall when exactly Jacob was returning from his own impromptu trip.
So when the light faded and she walked into the main hall of the Mountain, she was only a little surprised to find the man in question standing in the center area, a holographic screen featuring Hawkman floating in front of him.
"…and for the sake of every ancestor spirit you have, never tell my wife about what happened." And with that the screen closed.
Jacob then knelt down, connecting several wires to a dark metal box by his feet. As he did so another holographic screen popped up just above him, a diagnostic prompt drifting across the display. "Come on, come on…" he muttered as he put a hand on the box, his arm lighting up with blue lines. A few seconds later data started rapidly scrolling across the screen, though at her current angle Koriand'r couldn't see what it was. Jacob stood up and clapped his hands together. "Yes!" he shouted before he pulled up a keyboard and started scrolling through the information manually.
For a moment, Koriand'r remained where she was, just watching Jacob with a slight smile on her face. Such a strange man she had ended up courting. Her very own Tempered Smith. While her life had not given her much time to think about what kind of man she would want to be with, she wouldn't have guessed the one she had actually chosen. He was a careful and considerate man, but she had seen the passion and fury he could bring if the situation was right. He had little thrill for battle, but would not hesitate to put his life on the line for others if there was no other choice. And all with a genuine desire to make the world a better place for everyone.
In short, a man with hidden depths. One she had fallen for all the same.
Eventually she stopped her musings and walked forward. "A success, I would assume." She said as she walked up behind him. "Just what is it?"
Jacob finally turned to her, a delighted grin on his face. "Why don't you tell me?" He asked, and with a gesture the screen in front of him drifted through the air towards her.
She gave him a look, but turned to look at the screen… and froze in place at what she saw. The script was Tamaranian. A massive series of directories and files, many of which with titles she recognized. The Epic of Alisand'r, the collected symphonies of the Royal Orchestra, every serial of the Legend of the Shattered Kingdom. "This- this is-!"
"About a hundred thousand different pieces of Tamaranian media, ranging from books, to art, to music, to movies, to a bunch of other stuff I'm not even sure about." Jacob said as he walked next to her. "We've both lost a lot, but you have to live in a completely different and foreign culture. I… wanted to fix that. Even if it's just this, I wanted to give you a little piece of your ho-hrmp!"
That was as far as he managed to get before Koriand'r launched herself at him, her lips forcefully closing over his. When she pulled back she looked at him with wet eyes. "Thank you thank you!" She broke from the embrace long enough to scroll through the list of holoplays, searching for a few seconds until she found one from her childhood. "This one, this one! Let's watch this one!" She said excitedly.
Jacob managed to corral her towards the couch in common room, forming a hologram projector from his shoulder so that they could watch. It wasn't quite the quality of image Koriand'r remembered from her childhood, but she was more than happy with it as she curled up next to him. Joy swelled through her as she watched familiar scenes of drama and camaraderie play out before her which she thought she had lost forever, and at times she couldn't keep the tear from her eyes as she held Jacob close.
However, it had already been late when they started, so as much as she wanted keep watching, Koriand'r found herself drifting off around halfway through the third play. She protested weakly when Jacob turned it off, but she stopped when she felt him pick her up into his arms. A hum came from the back of her throat as she rested her head in the crook of his neck, her sleepy mind noting the little things about him. Those things he always made sure to have when they were together. The warmth of his body, the steady heartbeat, that faint iron scent.
Soon enough they arrived at her bedroom, and she felt him gently setting her down on her bed. She sleepily propped herself against him as she sat on the edge of her mattress. With some fumbling and some help from him she managed to pull off her clothes before she laid down, and he made to leave her to her sleep.
Her hand reached out and grasped his arm. "Stay with me." She whispered softly.
Jacob hesitated for a moment before he moved on to the bed, climbing over to reach the other side of her. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, and Koriand'r fell asleep in the arms of the man who had captured her heart.
=====A=====
Because while Hawkwoman is a very practical and no nonsense kind of woman, Hawkman is at his heart a romantic.
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- Location
- Canada
Hah! I knew it was Jacob!
Man, I'm surprised he managed to get to wherever that was and back that quickly. I guess that ship can really zip.
RichardWhereat
Feanor did nothing wrong.
- Location
- Australia
So, is this the beginning of the Outsiders? Because that would make sense. Have Batman and Hawkwoman create a black books group that's friendly with the Justice League, but not members, who're able to go on these sorts of missions. Meanwhile, the Team take on a more Teen Titans feel.
EDIT: Also, I love your iteration of Hawk Woman best. Better than I can ever remember having seen in the comics, or fanfiction. Just from that one conversation.
EDIT: Also, I love your iteration of Hawk Woman best. Better than I can ever remember having seen in the comics, or fanfiction. Just from that one conversation.
Last edited:
- Location
- Hong Kong
I agree, Enforcement!Hawkwoman is much less frequently seen than Warrior!Hawkwoman, and I hope we keep to that aesthetic moving forward.
Guess I was wrong about Orin telling Orm. It might still happen, but after Jacob told Mera about Orm's misdeeds in other timelines, she'll probably be keeping a closer eye on him from now on. The question is, will she tell Orin or will she wait until she has something more to go on?
And did Jacob pick up anything else in the markets of space-Tortuga? (I know it's not actually called that, I just like saying space-Tortuga.) I bet he assimilated a few new things from the gang's toybox, but did he buy any party favors for the rest of the team?
Loved this new chapter!
Zeuseus
KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD!!
Nah, I think he bought pirated copies of Tamaranean art, movies etc.
I love how he took down an organised crime gang to buy a present for his girlfriend, so sweet.
You just know that eventually she's going to ask how he got it and the whole story will come out. Given the Tamaraneans are a warrior culture, I wouldn't be surprised if the fact he had to fight people to retrieve his prize will mke the gift all the sweeter.
- Location
- Earth: Universe Meta - 1
Problem is that planet is conquered and somewhat bombed back to the Stone age. They don't have internet any more.
- Location
- Arizona
D'awwww. That's adorable. Off-screen combat showing Machina kicking ass, Kori standing up for her team, ending with a lovely cuddle session.
When the resident nanomachine tentacle swarm is willing to fake signs of being organic for you, and only cuddles with 2 arms, you know it's a keeper.
When the resident nanomachine tentacle swarm is willing to fake signs of being organic for you, and only cuddles with 2 arms, you know it's a keeper.
11.1
- Location
- Elsewhere
=====A=====
Is Reed Richards actually useless?
For those not familiar with that specific trope, it describes the idea that any given mad scientist or genius inventor will never actually use their inventions to meaningfully change the world they live in (in fiction). Sure, you might get orbital death rays or teleporters, but when it comes to solving more mundane problems, or even just patenting and selling their work, nothing. The world I had arrived in was mostly the same as the one I left, socially and technologically. Well, on the surface anyway.
The trope was often expressed in fiction because the writers of a given work want fantastic elements in their story, but not have it change the setting they're working with. Of course, the Doylist reason doesn't really work when you're living in a real, actual superhero universe (…hopefully. I am the Lampshade of my- no, stop it). So the question was, just what was the Watsonian reason for all this super-tech existing but things are mostly the same?
And the answer, as you might expect from a realistic look at such an issue, is complicated.
To start with, there are frequently some general problems with super tech that don't lend themselves to mass production. Most power armor designs that exist and have been used have been far too materially expensive to actually make several of, even for Special Forces. And for some technology the material itself is incredibly rare or limited, like the White Dwarf fragment used for all of Atom's technology (and no, don't ask me how you can have a fragment of a White Dwarf star the doesn't instantly explode).
On the villain side of things, there's a lot of people who simply don't care to go through the process of getting their technology patented. Even ignore the difficulties criminals would have dealing with the patent office, a good number of them lean heavily on the 'mad' part of Mad Scientist. Either they're not in it for the money, or don't care for society in general. As a result, a lot of villainous tech ends up gathering dust in police lock up.
So, what about taking that tech and reverse engineering it like I did? Legally speaking, that can be done… but the unfortunate death of one Edward Lytener marked the last time anyone had tried. The man was an aspiring engineer in the early nineties who hit upon the idea to reverse engineer the light technology used by the then imprisoned Doctor Light. And he made some good progress, seeing as how all modern hologram technology on the market is based on his work. But, unfortunately, Doctor Light escaped prison and swiftly made it clear how he felt about other people cribbing off of his notes.
Since then the public has had a… wary view when it comes to villainous super tech. It doesn't help that it's hard for many people to mentally separate villains' technology from the heinous deeds that are committed with them. Companies would have a PR nightmare trying to market anything connected with supervillains, and combined with the threat of reprisal from said villains mean none really try. I suppose tech from dead supervillains might be more viable, but cultural inertia is hard to overcome.
Superheroes can get around several of these issues (though some still don't care for dealing the bureaucracy and tedium of spreading their own tech around), but they also have some of their own. One of which being that you have to give the government (or a lawyer with your power of attorney) your real name in order to patent things, so it can get really easy for people to track you down.
And then, even if you don't care and get your stuff patented anyway, sometimes the government will actively prevent you from spreading it. Case and point, the Zeta Tubes.
I was honestly surprised when I learned that the Zeta Tubes were invented by a human scientist, in the 1950's. The man could barely get anyone to pay attention to his theories until he finally just made the prototype himself, and browned-out three states by accidentally teleporting J'onn to Earth. Needless to say, that got the various governments of the world worried, and kicked off some immediate research restrictions and having all the governments argue about it for half a century. The tech remained in limbo until the Justice League was founded, and the U.N. agreed that they were impartial enough to use it. Bit of a waste in my opinion, but there was rampant paranoia that someone would miss use it and call down an alien invasion that would wipe out all life on Earth. Or, as I imaged some politicians feared more, that a country would gain a massive advantage in the form a technically advanced ally and assume world dominance.
Somewhat ironic, considering recent events.
In any case, sometimes some advanced bits of technology make it through all of these barriers. Small, but noticeable. And I the moment, I was making my own contribution to that.
I floated at the edge of the stratosphere, the blue sky just starting to give way to the black of space as I drifted over the Rhelasian peninsula. This was the highest I could manage to fly with the aerokinectic core; there just wasn't any more air for me to be buoyant or push off of. Still, it was high enough to make it significantly easier for payloads to reach orbit if launched from up here. Such as the ones I was carrying.
I carefully arranged the array of small rockets in front of me, my mechadendrites spacing them and pointing them upwards. Each one contained a small satellite with as strong a radio transmitter and receiver that Ted and I could manage for its size, along with some advanced networking equipment I had been working on as I tried to improve the Team's comm equipment. They weren't anything special on their own, but each was meant to connect with each other along with the others already in orbit to form a wireless mesh network that could be accessed from the planet's surface. It wasn't particularly fast, but using this the whole country would have access to free wifi.
This was one of the better ideas that Ted and I had workshopped when we were coming up with ways to bring North Rhelasian infrastructure up to spec. The ideal we wanted was to create infrastructure that the populous was capable up maintaining and upgrading themselves, but we quickly realized that most of the North Rhelasian population was just too spread out and not technologically literate enough to make anything reasonable. So to start with, we decided it would be best to have something that was as wide spread and easy to use as possible, along with a few educational information campaigns over the next couple of years.
I… may have borrowed the idea from a certain billionaire who didn't exist in this particular universe.
"Serling, is the telemetry set up to sync with the last batch?" I asked over the radio.
Far down below me, the scientist replied. "Yes, yes. This system is mostly automatic. You don't have to keep checking in with me."
My mouth quirked. "Someone has to. Everyone else here that's not Ted is intimidated by you."
I could hear a hint of irritation in her voice as she responded. "I just have high standards. I'd like to think I'm keeping this whole exercise on schedule."
Some might say that you're trying to hurry things along to get back to your own work, I thought. I was still a little surprised that Serling had insisted on coming along with me and Ted, but she had nearly panicked when we told her we were going to Rhelasia for a few days. She said that she was very close to finally cracking the encoding for nanites and making a functioning compiler. I pointed out that she could just wait a few days, but she was adamant that it be done as soon as possible. So much so that she volunteered herself to help with the infrastructure project just so that she could be near me to finish her work.
Which I would have found very touching if there hadn't been something unusually manic about her behavior.
With the last checks done, I sent the signal to the rockets, and a moment later their thrusters fired and they shot up into the black. My eyes traced their trajectory for a few seconds before my gaze was brought back down to the horizon. The sun had risen several hours ago, but it was low enough the light still framed the curve of the Earth. "...If you get the chance Serling, I highly recommend seeing the Earth from orbit. It's still one of my favorite things since becoming a superhero."
"I suppose I wouldn't turn the opportunity down if it came up." She responded, though there was something odd in her tone. "That said, I'm worried that if I saw the sun cresting over the edge of the planet, I'd have 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' stuck in my head for a week."
"Actually, for me it's Fat Bottomed Girls."
"…dare I ask why?"
"What else would I think about when I see the rocking world go 'round?"
An exasperated sigh. "Just get back down here so I can finish up this experiment."
I snorted before I flipped backwards, diving straight back down to the surface. Considering I was about 40km up, it would take me a while before I reached the ground. Part of me wanted to see if I could fall fast enough to break the sound barrier, but my discretion told me that it would be a bad idea for a super-sonic object to suddenly appear on the North Rhelasia's radar. They knew I was here, but it was best not to make the North Korea expy nervous.
Ten minutes later I touched down at the edge of a small village nestled in a countryside valley, walking towards a large tent with the Kord Tech logo on it. It was one of four set up in an open meadow, and a few Kord Tech employees waved to me in greeting as I passed by. Opening the tent flap revealed a haphazard mess of electronic equipment and computers, and a somewhat harried Serling looking at a monitor intensely. I could also tell from a glance that it wasn't the rocket telemetry on that monitor. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the terminal she was supposed to be at. "You know, if you really don't want to do this, you could have just stayed back at the main encampment at the parallel."
"But you're out here, so I am too." She replied, and when she turned to look at me she saw me giving her a scowl. She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, I just need you for one more thing. I just finished up the latest analysis program."
I looked back at the screen in front of me, checking the progress of the various rockets as they reached the apex of their arcs and deployed the satellites. "And you're sure this will do the trick?"
"Of course!" She exclaimed as she fully turned to me, her hands full of those multiphase signal prongs I had become unfortunately familiar with over the past few months. "I told you earlier I had a breakthrough, didn't I? This is going to work, I'm sure of it."
With a last look at the screen to make sure the satellites were doing what they were supposed to, I walked over to her and started plugging the various prongs into my body. "You still haven't told me exactly what this breakthrough is."
Serling waved her hand. "I've been having a lot of inspiration lately. Working on this problem has caused me to look at algorithms in a new way. Especially ones involving a distributed quantum state machine like yourself. With the way your nanites interact with each other, it's like the state machine itself was changing moment to moment. Once that clicked, it's just a matter of finding the right waveform equation to parse what's going on with your machine code."
I nodded slowly. I… mostly understood that. "I see. And this is going to find that equation?"
She nodded back. "And once it does, it should slot right in the compiler we've been developing. It's the last piece we need." She grinned and gained a far off look in her eyes. "And then we can do so much with it."
She was like that for a long moment before she noticed the look I was giving her, and her face flushed. "A-anyway," she muttered, turning back to her computer and typing away at the keyboard. After a few seconds the screen switched to a diagnostic display, and I felt a myriad of sensations along the back of my mind. We had long refined this process to the point where it never hurt me, though now it felt like pushing two ever shifting shaped blocks against each other, each trying to slide into the other but not quite managing it.
"Right, that should do it," Serling said as she leaned back. "Now we just have to wait. If I did this right, it will be five minutes tops before we get a result."
"Right. And since I'm a bit tied up at the moment," I said gesturing to myself, "Perhaps you could take care of the telemetry now?"
Serling sighed. "Fine, fine," she muttered as she moved over to the console I had been standing at. "You'd think Ted would have one of his own people handling this grunt work."
I gave her a look. "Since when is he 'Ted' to you? I think this is the first time I've heard you call him something other than Kord."
Serling blinked for a moment before she realized what she said, and groaned while she put her hand to her face. "Ugh… alright, look," she said as she turned back to me. "You can't tell him this… but he's not as bad as I thought he was."
I leaned back against one of the tent pole. "To be honest, I don't understand why you thought he was bad in the first place. What was up with that anyway?"
Serling took a breath before she said "How much you know about Kord Tech? I mean, before Ted became CEO?"
"Not much. If I remember correctly, the company was founded in the late fifties by his grandfather and gradually grew in size over the decades. It wasn't until Ted took over that it really took off." I paused before I said "I think I remember something about there being legal troubles just before that happened."
Serling nodded. "Ted's grandfather was a decent businessman and scientist who managed to get into the silicon transistor market early, and founded the company's identity as a tech company. Ted's father on the other hand leaned more towards business, and when he saw the chance to take the company international, he did everything he could to boost his reputation. Including claiming other people's work as his own."
I raised my eyebrows. "He plagiarized scientific discoveries and inventions?"
"Mostly those of his own employees. He wanted to give the world the impression that he was some kind of genius scientist and inventor." She made a vague gesture. "No one could prove anything in court, but as things went on more and more of these rumors started to get around, to the point it was causing bad press. Thomas Kord saw the writing on the wall, and as soon as Ted graduated college he handed the company over to his son. A month later Ted revealed the company's new Robotics division, and the rest is history."
I gave a small frown and tilted my head. "Alright, Ted's father was an asshole. But what does that have to do with him?"
She gave me strange look. "Do you have any idea how advanced Ted's robots were compared to everything else on the market? It was absurd, and he claimed to be the sole designer of them. It was obvious to me that he had to be doing the same thing as his father, just being more subtle about it. So every time he came around the university looking for a nanotech expert I told him to get lost."
"But now I'm guessing you've changed your mind on that?"
"Well, I talked with every scientist of his I could find to confirm my suspicions," Serling rubbed the back of her neck. "But… it turns out he actually is a genius scientist and inventor." She sounded just so annoyed by that. "The reason that he is the primary credit on most of his projects is because he does most of the design and integration work himself. He comes up with solutions to cross-discipline problems that should take an entire team weeks in a couple of days. I honestly wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't helped me solve a claytronic modularity problem with fluid dynamics, of all things."
My mouth quirked a little. "Well, good to know that you two have stopped bickering, at least."
She snorted. "Hardly. For a man who's so smart he can jump to some pretty dumb conclusions about things. Particular things he should be deferring to me on." Serling then blinked and shot a scowl my way. "And I do not bicker! It's not bickering when I'm right!"
Before I could argue that point, I felt a slight shift at the back of my mind. It was like the end of a thread had been found, and someone had started pulling on it. "Something's happening…" I said as I looked back at her console. In one portion of the screen I saw a set of wave function diagrams morphing and changing parameters as they tried to match the ever shifting on in the center.
At the same moment the diagrams on the screen finally reached alignment, I felt those shapes in my mind finally align and slide together. A feeling of connection filled me, and on the other monitor I saw code scrolling down the screen. Code that I could understand. "It works…" I said, looking at something I had been chasing for the past few months.
"Yes!" Serling actually jumped in the air as she yelled this before darting in and looking at the code more closely. "Data integrity shows no sign of decay, error checking is green across the board, this is it! This is what I've been looking for!"
She then turned and actually hugged me in excitement, taking me completely off guard. It was a bit awkward considering I still had all the prongs in me, but I managed to return it. "You're amazing," I said as we broke apart and I started pulling the prongs out of myself. "I couldn't have done this without you. Now I can finally get back to programming."
"Me too! This is the last thing I need for it!" Serling said excitedly as she stared at the screen an odd glint in her eye. "This compiler gives me the last bits of functionality I needed. I can finish it!" I… actually wasn't sure what she was talking about.
Before I could ask though, I heard something on the edge of my hearing, the sound several engines running hot and getting closer. My brow furrowed as I turned to look out the tent flap. "Are were expecting any company?"
"Hmm? No, we're supposed to head back the parallel on our own in a few hours," Serling said. "Why?"
"Because someone's coming here awfully fast…" I said as I walked out of the tent, looking down the main road next to our little encampment. A few seconds later I saw several jeeps speeding down the road towards us, machine guns mounted on the back and men in army camo riding in the vehicles. My eyebrows shot up in sudden concern, and I walked briskly forward towards the oncoming cars, armor forming on my person. As they got closer, I held my hand up to flag them down. "Hello there!" I called out. "Can I help you with some-"
The turret on the closet jeep to me opened fire, and I was sprinting straight at them as soon as the first bullet slammed into my chest. The rounds were a little heavier than I was used to tanking, but it was nothing I couldn't handle, and every bullet that flattened itself against me was one that didn't hit the people near me. As I cleared the distance, my eyes darted around and I did a quick mental check of what I was dealing with: five jeeps with mounted guns, with three to four men armed with assault rifles each. Possibly armed with grenades, but unable to tell for sure.
My arm turned into a freeze cannon as I juked to the side of the oncoming jeep at the last second, freezing the front and side of the vehicle to the ground. It came to a sudden stop that flung the men out of the car, shortly before the jeep behind it slammed into it with a massive crash. The three behind it managed to swerve out of the way, but I was already jumping to the air over them and taking aim. Neutralizing their ability to harm the civilians was my first priority, so I fired several more freeze rays at the mounted guns on the remaining jeeps.
My aim was good, but not perfect. Three shots froze each of the guns solid, but I used wide beams to make sure I hit my targets, and there was some splash-freezing. Large portions of the jeeps were frozen solid, and one unfortunate solider wasn't quick enough to get away and had his arm frozen to the gun as well. He screamed in both shock and pain, but he would be fine so long as I could wrap this up in a few minutes.
Once I landed I ignored the men who had turned their rifles on me, instead focusing on those that were trying to get away or heading towards the tents. My other arm formed into a directional magnet and yanked their guns towards me. With everyone's attention firmly on me, I pulled the arm up and changed it into an overpowered floodlight, emitting a blinding flash that caused everyone around me flinch back and cry out.
After that, it was a simple matter to take down the rest of them. The ones stumbling around blind I took out with electric shocks, and the few that tried to run I reeled back in with grapple lines (and then took out with electric shocks). In short order almost all of the soldiers were unconscious, and the few that weren't I tied up with pilfered rope from their jeeps. A few had broken bones and cuts from the crash, but nothing life threatening. In total, the whole fight had only lasted about thirty seconds.
It was then I heard Serling yell from the tent. "Jacob! What the hell is going on?! Who's shooting at us?!" A glance back revealed her to be peeking out from the edge of the tent's doorway.
"Not sure." I yelled back before I crouched next to one of the soldiers, looking him up and down. At first glance I thought these were North Rhelasian soldiers, but a closer look revealed slight differences in the uniform. The accents around the collar and sleeves were missing, and in place of the North Rhelasian flag patch on their arm there was an emblem of a jackal's head "Who are you? Why did you attack us?"
The Rhelasian man didn't response, instead just giving me an intense glare. I sighed and stood, but before I could do anything else, I heard an explosion in the distance. I turned my head to look, but I didn't see anything. A few seconds later I heard another two in quick succession. Given how I still couldn't see anything, they must have been both miles away and massive.
I swore I caught a hint of motion at the top of a nearby hill as I scanned the area, but as I turned my head to look there was nothing there. Is the foliage slightly warmer at that spot, or is it just my imagination? I wondered. Either way, I fired a freeze ray at the location, but while all the plant life froze, I failed to see anything else.
I had no idea what was going on, and I did not like it. I turned back to everyone looking at me. "Everyone, pack it up. I'm not sure what's going on, but we need to leave as soon as possible."
Everyone hurried away to do as I said, and I started to call home base in an attempt to figure out what was going on-
…And scowled as the static of a signal jammer was my response. Not this time, I thought as my arm changed shape. The last time I had faced one of these, my shapeshifting had been on the fritz, but now was a different matter. Really, all a signal jammer did was emit a powerful radio signal that drowned out all other transmissions in the area. So, the simplest way to get around it was to just generate an even stronger signal.
My arm thickened and extended, forming a cylindrical shape with a large parabolic dish on the end. It wasn't quite a radio laser, but it could put out an extremely powerful signal in a specific direction. And that direction at the moment was south, down near the parallel. "Kord, this is Machina, come in. We've just had armed men attack our camp, and I'm not sure who they belong to."
There was silence for several long, tense moments before I heard Ted's voice on the other end of the line. "Jacob! What the hell is going on up there?! Are my people safe?! Is Serling safe?! How are you getting a signal out?"
"Everyone's fine, I knocked out or tied up all the men. Right now I'm sending out about a strong a signal as I can manage." I paused. "I take it you noticed the jammer, then? How wide spread is it?"
"I don't know, but a lot of people lost contact with several places just north of the border. The military is scrambling right now, but from what I've heard the North Rhelasians are swearing it's not them."
I glanced at the men I had tied up. "Well, the uniforms of the men I captured do have a couple of differences. But if it's not them, then who the hell are these people?"
"I'll have to get back to you on that one, no one's telling me anything…" Ted growled. "If I had to guess, given that we've lost contact with several places at once, I'd say we're looking at a coup. Probably some people weren't happy with the peace agreement."
"Shit." I muttered. "Ted, we've already had a group of them gunning after your employees. We can't just ride this out."
Ted grunted in agreement. "And I don't think going to the local authorities for protection is the best idea, all things considered. I'm going to try to get some U.N. forces to your position, but given how cagy the North Rhelasians are being, I wouldn't count on it."
I sighed. "Well, I'd be all for calling the Justice League in… if they were allowed in the country." While South Rhelasia was part of the U.N., the North was not, and the peace treaty between the North and South only went so far. "To be honest I'm still surprise you managed to get me into the country."
"…yeah, about that," Ted began.
"Ted." I said flatly. "The North Rhelasians do know I'm here, right?"
"Of course they do! I had to give them the names of all the people I'd be sending into their country." Ted insisted, before his tone became a little more sheepish. "It's just… given how easily they agreed, there is a slight chance that they don't actually know you're a superhero."
"Oh my god Ted I've been flying in and out of their part of the stratosphere for the past few hours!" I yelled. "If they noticed that but didn't know I was supposed to be there-!"
"It'll be fine! The people at the border saw you and didn't raise a fuss. So their superiors probably know! Just, you know, try to avoid them if you can. Just to be sure."
I forced myself to calm down. Panicking wouldn't help here. "I'll keep that in mind." I said tightly. "Either way, we can't stay here. Will we get shot at border if we make it there?"
Ted was silent for a moment before he said. "You won't. I'll make sure of it."
"Right, then I'm going to try to get everyone here back. You should make sure to call the League, as well. They should know what's going on regardless of what they can do about it." I hesitated for a moment before I continued. "And contact Starfire. She'll want to know too."
The League might not have been able to do anything, but this was just the sort of thing the Team was made for.
"Will do." Ted said firmly. "Don't worry, I don't intend to let any one of you down. And I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve."
I closed the comm and looked around at everyone frantically grabbing their things and pilling into cars. Alright, all I had to do was escort about a dozen civilians 20 miles across hostile territory, potentially controlled by an unknown force.
No pressure.
=====A=====
Cue Snake Eater theme.
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