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Assimilation [Young Justice SI]

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18.3
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    • =====A=====​

    The two days passed surprisingly fast. We had a whole city to investigate, and that left little time for lounging around. Well, ostensibly a lot of my time was doing just that; someone had to manage the hologram drones while my teammates were doing their jobs. It also helped that I could do all of my data gathering from anywhere. But with no new events in the city since we got here, we found ourselves brushing up against the date of the concert without too much to show. We were going to have a meeting that afternoon to see what we could piece together.

    But first, there was a slight problem I had to deal with. Walking through an empty lot near the Parc, I quickly checked to see if anyone was looking before I reached out and touched a spot in the air. It rippled as Moya opened up her side and I quickly stepped in. I was entering through the back bay, so I had to shuffle past the drone racks, along with the coffin sized container against the wall. It was more than I had asked Moya to carry on previous missions, but it felt prudent in this case.

    Walking onto the command deck, I spied my target sitting in the pilot's seat. M'gann was sitting almost perfectly still with her eyes closed, her hands folded demurely in her lap and her legs pressed together. I would have thought she was just resting if her brow wasn't currently knit together. Somewhat oddly, she was also in human coloration, wearing a simple blouse and skirt combo. "Hey," I said as I walked closer. "Feeling any better?"

    Her eyes snapped open, and when she looked at me she made a face. "Oh, uh, not really no. I'm still having trouble focusing." We had been hoping that M'gann could use her telepathic abilities to get a sort of psychic impression of the city to help point us in the right direction. But, she had been distracted and listless the entire time we had been here, unable to get much of anything. I had hoped getting some rest would help, but that apparently didn't work.

    "Do you have a better idea of what's going on?"

    "No… afraid not."

    "Then, if you don't mind..." My hand formed into a scanning device, and I gestured towards her. A moment passed before she nodded, and I started my scan. I still only had a loose idea of what a healthy Martian looked like, so a minute or so later I hadn't found anything unusual. "Well there's nothing obviously wrong."

    M'gann waved me off. "You're making this a bigger deal than it is. I'm sure it's just a… mental dip. I can still fight if I have to."

    "But that doesn't mean it's a good idea." I pointed out. "Especially if it's the result of enemy action." The idea that the thing causing this was psychic in nature had crossed our minds. After all, if there was something psychic wrong in the city, it would go a long way in explaining some of the things we've seen. But the problem was we had no way to be certain, because our resident psychic was having issues.

    M'gann didn't agree with me. "If there is an enemy psychic, you'll need me to pick them out, trouble or not. In the face of the unknown, we have to be decisive. "

    I ached an eyebrow, not expecting the girl to say something like that. " Well, I'm not the leader here, but speaking as the team's very unofficial medic, I'd prefer it if you hung back on this one."

    The girl shook her head. "No, I said I'm good to go, so I'm good! You've gone into battle when you haven't been at your best either, and it's worked out fine!"

    Somehow I think 'do as I say and not as I do' will go poorly here, I thought sourly. "Ok yes, but to be fair, those were situations where people would have died if I hadn't acted. We haven't run into one of those on this mission just yet."

    "But sometimes you have to take risks too." She insisted. "Just like when Megan had to do the super difficult cheer jump to impress the other cheerleaders in episode 2."

    "...What?" I said in confusion. I searched my mind to remember what she was talking about, but I was coming up blank. No, wait, didn't she used to make references like this back when I first met her? In the first month we lived together M'gann would occasionally make reference to some TV show she watched, though she never really elaborated on it. She had stopped once the team started having Media Night, and we had more shared reference points. Hearing her go back to that was... odd. "I'm not sure that's applicable here."

    "Sure it is. In fact, I think I've been too passive on our previous missions. Just hanging back and letting everyone else do most of the fighting… I might as well have been useless."

    Why this all of a sudden? I reached out and touched her shoulder. "Hey, you haven't been useless-" I started to say.

    M'gann swatted my hand away. "Oh what would you know?" She snapped. "You've been in the thick of it since the beginning. You don't know what it's like to constantly question yourself, wondering if you're doing the right thing at any moment."

    I froze, completely caught off guard by the response. I don't think M'gann had ever talked to me like that. "Hey, I have a good idea what that's like. Hell I was green- err, inexperienced a few months ago."

    "Months ago. And now you're..." she gestured to me in frustration. "You've grown. Everyone on the team has grown. Except for me. Just same old Megan."

    "I see..." I said slowly. "M'gann, first of all, that's not true. Secondly, that's not a healthy way of looking at things. At the very least, even if you feel like you need a change, it can probably wait till after this mission."

    "No! I don't want to put this off!" She insisted. "The old me would waffle and put it off. I need to do this! Not all of us can just be perfect without effort."

    I was having a harder and harder time following the girl. Part of me wanted to chalk it up to 'being a teenager', but considering we were on mission… "We just established I wasn't perfect."

    "Not you, Kori." The girl grumbled. "She just makes everything seem so easy, especially when it's not."

    "M'gann, that's not even close to true. You know she's spent her whole life training, and been through a lot of hardships besides."

    M'gann's expression twisted, and for a moment I swore her blue eyes shifted to something more orange. "Well, maybe it hasn't been-!" she started to yell, but then suddenly cut herself off. The girl blinked, as if uncertain what she was going to say. "I..." she eventually said, now much calmer and embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I need some time alone. " She swiftly got up and exited Moya.

    I stared after her, running the conversation back through my head and trying to figure out what was going on with our teenage Martian.

    ----------------------​

    "Are you sure you don't have any 'insights' as to what's happening here?" Artemis asked, taking a seat on the couch next to me. "Because at this point I'm ready to look ahead at the storyboard." The Parc's VIP room was a large room on the third floor of one of the buildings next to the main courtyard. In addition to the amenities of food and comfortable seating, it had large windows which covered an entire side along with a comfortable terrace. All in all, it made for a nice modern opera box.

    Still, it would have been better to have this meeting back in Moya, but we needed at least one non-holographic person to remain here in case anyone came looking. As it was, with the addition of a few sound baffle devices, the space would do so long as we were careful.

    I shot Artemis a look. "Do you really think I would have floundered around for two days if I did? For better or worse, I can't predict the future."

    "Besides, it hasn't been that bad," Wally remarked, plopping down on the couch next to her with a box of donuts in one hand. "The catering has been great." He said before popping one into his mouth.

    "Says the guy who didn't have to do all the groundwork." Robin complained, the boy sprawled out on a recliner. "I've barely gotten the chance to sit down since we got here, let alone see the catering." Wally responded by tossing him a donut, which Robin caught deftly. Robin gave Wally an annoyed look, but hunger won out and he started wolfing it down.

    I had to admit, this mission had been a little lopsided when it came to duties so far. Only a few of us had useful information gathering skills for our situation. The rest could only either do overwatch or or hang out around the Parc, and they were taking it with various degrees of grace. Kori and Donna were getting along with the various concert staff, and Wally had made close friends with everyone who handled the food. Kaldur was stoic, but I could tell he was getting antsy, and Connor made no attempt to hide how wound up he was. But M'gann...

    Looking across the room, I saw M'gann sitting next to Connor, the boy looking at her with his brow knit in concern. I could tell from their small motions that the two were talking telepathically, and the two were… not exactly arguing, but not clicking like they usually did. I had talked to Kori about M'gann, and while she did have some concerns as well she didn't think the girl needed to be held back. 'Tamaranians never consider passion for the fight to be a detriment,' she told me. Fortunately, she still intended to keep a close eye on the girl till the mission was over.

    I just hope I'm mixing up bad gut feelings with social anxiety, I mulled. Out loud I said "Anyway, we've gathered just about all the information we can. We've snooped in the offices of several union heads, a few government officials, and even some of the local crime bosses, and the story always seems to be the same: a lot of petty squabbling which escalates into something more serious. And no real indication of what kicked it off." It's both a good and bad thing that the ones responsible hadn't made any moves since we got here. It let us focus on our search, but they also didn't provide us with any more leads.

    "So, what, we spent the last few days running around and got nothing from it?" Connor asked.

    "No, what we got was data points. Which I've added to all the other data points I've been scrounging from the local net." As I talked, I made a hologram of the city in the center of the room, little infoboxes popping up over certain sections to give more details. Two days is a long time for someone like me to analyze a network, and to process the data I got from it. "After deep diving Barcelona's news and social media, and cross referencing it with dates along with what we got from official offices, I managed to build a decent timeline of events along with a list of people who are showing unusual amounts of strife and aggression."

    Statistical analysis saves the day once again! And, you know, pushes us ever closer to a dystopian surveillance state, but let's focus on the positives here.

    "I see," Kori gaze swept over the holographic model. "And what have you concluded?"

    "To start with, our initial suspicions were correct. Those little fights that we've been seeing have been repeating all over the place. It's the worst at the docks due to the damage, but we're also seeing it at other unions, government offices, and definitely online. Everyone's at each other's throats. And statistically that shouldn't be happening. Something is agitating the city's population."

    "The cops are on edge from all this too," Robin remarked. "And the upcoming concert has got them nervous. They're gearing up en-mass just in case something goes wrong. It's not that bad yet, but you can see the trouble on the horizon."

    "Let's not give them a reason for them to act on that." Kori said. "Do we have a specific cause?"

    "Not quite, but I've found a pattern of sorts." I pulled up a list of names that started sorting themselves into piles. "If you take the people who are acting aggressively, you can organize them into groups. Specifically, by date and location." Several red zones appeared on the model, with dates listed next to them. "I don't have enough data to be certain, but I think these people were all in the same area when… something happened. Something that altered their behavior, making them more aggressive."

    "And that's enough to make the city go to hell?" Conner asked.

    Artemis shook her head."Not completely, the city is busted enough to cause some of this. But it does feel like someone's trying to make it worse."

    "But why?" Donna asked. "Who could possibly benefit from this?"

    "Off the top of my head, whoever's getting all the shipping that would be going to Barcelona." I pointed out. "But that's just speculation. Right now we need to find who's doing the dirty work and stop them."

    "Not that we have any more leads on that," Artemis grumbled. "No one in the local criminal scene has had contact with anyone new that I could find. And if these people really are using teleporters, they wouldn't have to."

    "Could we draw them out, then?" Kori asked.

    I hummed. "I can't say for certain as we don't know their end goal, but their immediate objective seems to be destabilizing the city by subtly introducing chaos. Both in screwing up recovery efforts and whatever they're doing to the populous."

    "The first one then. You talked about coming here as disaster relief before we settled on our current plan. Perhaps we can create an event which-"

    "No need," Robin interrupted, and as I turned to him I found his expression grim. "We've already given them a target."

    I didn't have to think about that long before realization dawned on me. Thus far the affected people had been grouped by location and organization, having been targeted for having the greatest impact on the city. But if thousands of people gathered in one place… that would make a tempting target too.

    Shit.

    "It might not be the quality of target they're looking for, but you can't argue with the quantity." I reluctantly agreed.

    "Wait, you mean the concert?" Kid Flash caught on before he slapped himself upside the head. "Crap, that's why they haven't don't anything since we got here, we did all the work for them!"

    Kaldur kept his calm as he asked "What is the worst case? A full city riot?"

    "I don't think so, at least not immediately." I said, pointing at the zones on the map. "There weren't instant riots at these locations, everyone there started showing issues later. And without checking, I don't think there's a sizable cross section of crucial city personnel and Daft Punk fans. That said, it will still push the city further to chaos."

    "Do you think we should cancel the concert?"

    I breathed in, weighing the options in my mind. "...I'm not sure. It's a risk either way; call the concert off and our enemy might go to ground until we have to leave, or use the concert as a lure and potentially get thousands of people affected."

    The team was silent, each one of us weighing the options against each other. Until… "We should use it." Heads turned to look at M'gann, who had gotten to her feet. "You said it yourself Jacob, this is our one chance to be taken seriously on the international stage. We can't pass this chance up and let them slip away. We have to act."

    Kori considered this for a moment before she nodded, and our leader said "Miss Martian is right. It's time to be bold."

    --------------------


    It was a shame I couldn't pay full attention to the concert. Daft Punk was in top form tonight.​

    Thousands of people were gathered in the Parc, many of which were carrying glowsticks or rave lights. Adding into the lights from the stage, the whole space was a sea of vibrant colors, flashing lights and pulsing sound. The people roared along with the music, and even from my spot in the VIP room I could feel the bass running through the ground.

    But I was on the job, and that job was to keep an eye on everything around the concert. "Status check." I commed out.

    "Nothing in the water," Aqualad reported from his position in the water, inside the small harbor next to the Parc. It was mostly for small personal craft, but it hadn't seen much use lately, which made it a point someone could sneak in.

    "Southern wall is clear," Robin said, Kid Flash and Superboy beside him. The three of them were stationed atop one of the squat commercial buildings just outside of the Parc's walls, keeping an eye on the highway that ran next to it.

    "Same for the west." Troia said likewise, Artemis still in her perch nearby. Those two were on one of the taller buildings outside the main gate, giving them a clear view of the biggest entrance.

    "And the skies are empty as well," Starfire finished. She and Miss Martian were hanging in the air far above the concert, the strobing and flashing lights below making it difficult for anyone to notice them above.

    And that just left me, sitting in the VIP room with a bunch of holograms of my teammates as we watched the show. Of course, most of my attention was focused on playing mission control, managing the drones I had with each team, and watching the local networks for anything suspicious. The team was split up more than I preferred, but we needed to cast as wide a net as possible. The hope was that with my coordination I could direct the team to where they were needed as soon as I spotted the threat.

    But until then, there was nothing I could do but watch and wait. It wasn't exactly the first time I had to stake out something, but with so many things to watch I found myself slipping into a sort of rhythm as time passed. Check the team, check the drone, check the network. Check the team, check the drone, check the network. Check the team, check the drone, check the -

    And then finally, someone tried to cut the power.

    The backup capacitors I had set up earlier took over the power needs, followed by the backup generators coming online. It was so seamless that there wasn't even a flicker of an interruption for the show. "Look alive team, someone just tried to cut the power." I commed as I tried to trace the point of failure. "The problems at an electrical substation to the north, sending some drones to-"

    And that's as far as I got before the second indirect attack happened, in the form of all the nearby cell towers suddenly going out. Or rather, they became unreachable as I was picking up a surge of new radio signals. "Wait, several radio jammers just went up around the local cell towers. That's going to make things difficult for local authorities." Police and emergency services didn't completely rely on them, but removing their wireless communication would definitely slow down response time. While there was a limit to what I could do to infrastructure remotely, the internet was structured such that it was easy to reroute traffic if needed. So I executed a few commands to move traffic around the affected nodes before they could bog the rest of the network too much.

    "...are we sure these are the same people?" Starfire asked. "These are acts that will destabilize the city more, but they are much less subtle than I was expecting."

    "You're right… This feels more like a direct attack than sabotage. Maybe something changed?"

    "...Titans, we should assume that our enemy knows that we're here. I suspect this is meant to distract and overwhelm us."

    Unfortunately possible. I had done my best to keep us under the radar, but given our track record assuming we had been found out was the prudent move.

    My drones were partway to the substation when Artemis commed "I'm getting movement on the sensors we placed around the western gates, but I'm not seeing anything. Troia, do you see what I'm missing?"

    A pause. "No… but something doesn't feel right either. No one's using the darkness to hide, but..." Looking through the camera of the drone nearest them, I likewise didn't see anything, even with infrared.

    "Not taking the risk." Artemis said as she pulled and nocked an arrow. The bands around the head marked it as a Snowblind Arrow, something I had developed to disrupt electronics and radio waves. I had also made them to disrupt optical cloaks.

    After a moment of aiming she let the arrow fly, and on impact with the ground it exploded into a cloud of shining white flakes. Small bursts for static shot between the charged particles, and after a second or so they started to clump on something unseen to the left of the point of impact. The air around that point started to twist and distort before it straightened out to reveal a group of four people.

    There was not much to see though, the men were dressed in black bodysuits and harnesses, and their heads were completely covered by a balaclava and goggles. The one thing that stuck out we're the large, claw-like gauntlets on their arms.

    Troia wasted no time diving down into the group, piledriving one into the ground. The rest tried to scatter, but a few arrows from Artemis and a few lasers from my drones pushed them back towards the Amazon. As one they turned back at rushed Troia, their claws slashing at her with preternatural speed. But Troia had training on her side, and silver light flashed every time she deflected the claws with her bracers.

    "Troia and Artemis have engaged the enemy, four men in tactical gear with some advanced equipment." I commed. We were lucky there was so much noise and light nearby, as no one seemed to notice the sudden skirmish.

    "Aqualad, you're the closest, move to assist." Starfire ordered, and Aquald confirmed before moving.

    Meanwhile, a few of my drones had made it to the electrical substation where the break in the power grid had occurred. The small block was surrounded by a brick wall, but that didn't stop my drones from seeing the pillar of smoke that was rising from it. They certainly seem to be abandoning subtlety, I thought, spreading the drones out so I could properly assess the damage. The Mk. IIIs had low grade freeze rays to handle fires, but if the damage was bad enough there was little they could do to repair-

    Turns out they couldn't repair anything, as before they could even get close, a dull red beam sliced through the leading Mk III, causing it to disintegrate. The drones followed their protocols and scattered, and I caught the brief's glimpse of something metal floating over the burning substation before it faded out of view. Stealth drones? Dammit, that's my thing.

    Still, judging by how the next few shots were directed only at my combat drones, they couldn't detect my stealth drones either. And mine didn't break their stealth field to fire their weapons. With that in mind, I spaced my stealth drones out to have overlapping fields of view and started running prediction and triangulation algorithms. The next time one of the enemy drones attacked, I managed to pick up the distortion in its field to have a few of my combat drones return fire before it vanished again.

    And right as I was getting into that grove, Robin commed "Spotted more of them!" I switched my focus to the drones following the southern team, and I saw him pointing at a pickup truck heading down the highway, a canvas over something large in the bed. "I saw a few matching that description pile into that truck before they vanished. They're headed south."

    What? Given Robin's position that would mean they were moving away from the concert. Why would they- wait. "Shit, that's where the police have gathered for 'preemptive riot duty' in response to the concert. Over half the cops in the city are there. If they get affected by whatever's been going around… the next riot is going to turn bloody."

    "They're not there yet! I'll slow them down, you guys catch up!" Kid Flash said, and in a blink he was dashing after the truck. Superboy picked up Robin and flew off, my drones following in pursuit.

    "Should we join them?" Miss Martian asked.

    "Hold," Starfire replied before saying "Aqualad, what's your status?"

    "Enemies secure," Aqualad breathed out. "We were more than a match for them."

    No kidding. I had only half paid attention to their fight, but Troia and Artemis had them on the ropes the whole time, so when Aqualad showed up they ended it quickly. I had kind of expected more from a group of trained operatives with some level of superhuman ability, but I guess our own training was paying off.

    Looking at the pile of goons through a drone, Artemis swung into view, retracting her grapple before inspecting the unconscious men. "Not seeing any identifying marks or items on them… and I don't recognize the gear either."

    "No doubt everything was crafted by their benefactors." Aqualad remarked, and he moved to pull off one of the operative's head coverings. It revealed a middle eastern man with cyberware in the sides of his head. More Bialyan cyborgs, I thought while my gut clenched. I never really thought they would stop at one, but I had hoped someone in the intelligence community would have noticed by now. I wasn't exactly in a position to deal with it myself.

    Was this more of the Calculator's work? If so, he hasn't shown his face yet… well, he's never shown his face, but he never passed up the opportunity to yell at me before. Just another thing to watch out for.

    "I can pull something out of them," Miss Martian said, and started moving towards the pair. "It's more difficult when they're unconscious, but I can psychically dive into their mind and find out their plans."

    "Are you sure you're up to this?" Starfire asked, flying after her. "You've been having trouble-".

    "Yes." Miss Martian cut her off. "I can focus on a single person much easier than trying to get a read from a group. I'm sure I can do it."

    While that was happening I looked back at south team in time to see the pickup truck they were chasing wobbling along the road, its tires having been blown out by something. As the truck slowed Superboy landed in front of it, and Robin leapt away just before it crashed into the half-Kryptonian. Superboy held his hands out and stopped the vehicle, only somewhat crumpling the front. In an instant Robin tossed a Snowblind grenade, revealing the figures as they piled out. They started to fight, but they weren't faring much better than the previous operatives.

    Speaking of which, Miss Martian and Starfire reached where the others had piled their operatives. Without preamble Miss Martian touched the head of the one with his mask removed and her eyes glowed white. After a moment, a frown crossed her face. "It's… difficult, even unconscious his thoughts are like rigid stones. But I'm getting something. Order for this mission, but also something else. I just have to push a little harder-"

    A few moments later the man started to twitch. He didn't exactly regain consciousness, but he let out a strangled cry from his throat as he started to seize. "You won't keep me out!" Miss Martian growled, and the glow of her eyes increased in intensity. The glow became slightly more orange-

    The man suddenly went limp, and Miss Martin fell back. "Are you alright? What happened?" Starfire asked as she helped her to her feet.

    Miss Martian shook her head to clear it. "I'm fine, fine. His mind was too inflexible to let me see what I needed, so I had to bend him a bit..." she looked off into space for a while before she continued. "They know we're here, they're trying to distract us."

    "Distract us from what?" Artemis asked. "Because right now we have three different fronts to worry about. Which one's the real target?"

    "None of them, they're all to pull our attention away from… the airport!" She exclaimed. "There's a shipment of international aid coming in by airplane tonight! If they destroy it along with the airport the city will fall apart!"

    Wait, what? How did I miss that? I knew that what limited aid the city was getting was coming through the airport, but the next shipment shouldn't be arriving for another few days! However, quickly breaking into the airport's servers showed me that the schedule had been changed since I last checked. God damn it.

    Ok, losing the airport would be catastrophic, but… "We can't just ignore the threats the other groups pose either. We need to wrap things up as fast as we can." I commed out.

    "No, there's no time, Starfire and I should go on ahead. We'll stop it!" And without waiting Miss Martian shot into the air, heading to the airport.

    "Miss Martian!" Starfire called after her, but the other superheroine kept speeding away. Starfire didn't wait long before she took off after her. "She's not wrong, we should slow down their operation, but…" A sigh. "I'll deal with it after the mission." With that she flew after Miss Martian.

    I grimaced and refocused my attention on the other two fights, now having more motivation to end the current threat. But as I did, I was almost surprised at how well we were managing. My drones had picked off most of the enemy drones, the broken form resembling oddly shaped Xs with weapons at the end of the prongs. And the south team had their own opponents pretty much cleaned up.

    But I still felt uncertain. It looked like our enemy was casting a wide net, but why were they so… weak? Even with the real big plan I would think they make us work a little harder with their distraction. There was a piece missing, I just wasn't seeing it.
    Still, it wasn't long before Superboy commed out "Done here," and looking through the drones around them I saw that all the operatives were down. "Let's see what they were carting around." He moved to the back of the truck and pulled off the canvas.

    It… was some kind of machine. The thing filled the truck bed, and was shaped like a mess of cubes and cylinders mashed together. I couldn't guess at its function, but the New God circuitry covering it meant it was probably more dangerous than it looked. Superboy looked at it blankly. "So… what do we do with it?"

    "Attach the dongle." I said, a moment later Robin pulled a device from his belt, a circular disk with several ports around the edge, and attached it to the side of the machine. The disc vibrated before the ports opened and Circuit Sand poured out of it, forming into thin wires that slipped into every opening they could find. A moment later power coursed through it and I was connected to the device.

    The 'dongle' was something I had created, a sort of universal access device for other machines. Based off of those cube things that Abracadabra had thrown at me, the internals used the same mutable subsystem architecture that Ivo favored to work with anything it came across. Add in a Zeta Ansible and my teammates had a way to give me easy access to any system even if I wasn't there.

    Of course, normally even that wouldn't be enough against New God technology. As I connected to the machine I could feel what passed for the thing's machine code spin up to fight me, with that unfortunately familiar cold energy pushing back at my intrusion. Not this time, I thought, as I modified my algorithms the way that Motherbox had taught me. Cracking New God code was more art than science, but she had taught me a few brushstrokes to get me started.

    What had once been a wave of biting force opposing me opened up, forming channels that I could follow deeper into its architecture. The machine wasn't exactly aware, but it did seem to forget about me as I browsed through registries. I wasn't in total control, and if I made a mistake the whole thing could turn on me again, but for now I had a backdoor into the system. And the first thing I did was send out a ping to find all other devices connected to this one.

    When the results came back, I got a lot more information than I was expecting. It wasn't exactly GPS coordinates, but after a few seconds I was able to translate it into positions and distances. "I'm getting a handful of locations when more of this tech is located, but the biggest concentration is at the airport."

    "So they are planning an attack there," Robin said. "We need to move."

    "Wait, something off about that," I said. "There's no reason to need that much tech if they're just going to blow up the place." I moved on to the operating system, picking it apart to see just what the thing did. And as the code flowed past me, a picture was starting to form "I think... that device you have is a relay, connected to a larger device at the airport. Moreover, I think that primary device has a direct neural interface built into it."

    "Really? How can you tell?" Superboy asked.

    "It's hard to describe, but a lot of the data processing algorithms this thing is running are similar to what Serling has. It's got the same general 'shape' as organic-to-machine code translation, though there's a lot of other stuff too." The question was, who was connected? The Calculator was out, he didn't need an interface like this. I wondered… I was looking at the individual bits of data, the trees. If I pulled back, could I see the forest? "I'm going to see if I can figure out who we're dealing with."

    I started compiling all the algorithms and data streams I could find, layering them over one another like I was weaving a tapestry. This likely would have been nonsense on any other system, but New God tech had plenty of conceptual weight to it, so it didn't take long before a shape began to form in the front of my mind. After a little more processing that shape turned into a face, just a snapshot of the man who was controlling this thing. The man was extremely pale, had red eyes… and had a mostly transparent skull revealing his brain. "Psimon?" I said in surprise.

    "That psychic weirdo that wiped our memories back in Bialya?" Kid Flash asked. "Right, he was working with the Apokolipains back then too! If these things are psychic relays that are amping his power, then he's the one making everyone in the city act all crazy!"

    Robin frowned. "It fits, but if it is a psychic thing why hasn't Miss Martian picked up on it?"

    "Because Psimon managed to get into her head the last time," I said slowly, a sinking feeling of dread filling me. "She's been off… ever since she got to the city- Miss Martian, Starfire, pull back!"

    Miss Martian and Starfire had just about reached the edge of the airport when they got my comm, the drones following them struggling to keep pace. Miss Martian didn't react, but Starfire sped up and grabbed her shoulder. "Miss Martian, stop! Didn't you hear, we're heading into a trap!"

    The two stopped in the air, but Miss Martian threw off the other woman's arm as she turned to face her. "Oh, so now it's not enough that you parade yourself around me?" She snarled, eyes orange. "You have to hold me back too?!"

    "What? M'gann, you're not making any sense! You're under the influence of Psimon!"

    "No I'm not! I can't be because..." She trailed off, her expression softening into one of confusion after a few seconds. "Wait, that's not… no, something's not right..." her gaze drifted as she focused. And slowly, her expression changed to one horror. "Oh… oh no-"

    Her pupils suddenly constricted, and she reached up to grab the sides of her head, screaming. "No! Get out! Get out!"

    Starfire grabbed a hold of her shoulders, but before she could do anything I saw a sudden flash of light and movement from the ground with a drone. I only had a split second to identify it: a missile launching, and heading straight for the pair. "Starfire, move!"

    I got a glimpse of Miss Martian shoving her teammate before I pushed my drones forward, steering them right into the missile path at full speed. They didn't get far before the lead collided and the signal was lost. "Are you guys alright?" I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. "Starfire, Miss Martian. Respond!"

    The seconds of silence ticked by with agonizing slowness, silence hanging heavy on the line. Then, finally… "This is Starfire. Minor injuries, but otherwise fine." I felt relief flood me, but it was a bit premature as she continued "But I've lost sight of Miss Martian. She pushed me clear before the blast, and now I've fallen back past the perimeter of the airport. Machina, can you find her?"

    I remote activated her tracker, and my gut clenched as I got no response. "...No. But it could have been damaged in the blast. She's tougher than most of her equipment." That was assuming that the missile's payload wasn't primarily fire, but I had to believe that.

    Starfire apparently thought the same, as moments later she commed out in a tight voice "Titans, converge on my position. We need to assume that Miss Martian has been captured. We will infiltrate the airport and retrieve her." I was halfway through setting up a hologram drone for myself before she said "Machina, remain where you are. You can assist us through drones, and we still need someone to protect the city in case more operatives are sent your way."

    I scowled, but I forced myself back into my seat and replied "Understood." I desperately want to do more than help via proxy, but Starfire was right. I was too useful where I was. After a few moments to collect myself I began taking stock. The other Titans were on the move on expected routes, drones were spitting up and forming new groups based on task, the local networks were stable, the New Gods device-

    My eyes went wide when I realized the device's security algorithms had closed in on me. Shit, I lost focus when that missile launched, and now they knew I was here. But rather than attacking me or pushing me out, a voice reached me. "Plans have gone awry. How interesting and infuriating."

    I froze in confusion. That… wasn't Pismon. And it wasn't the Calculator either, or a machine spirit like Motherbox. I wasn't getting a visual, just audio. "Who is this?" I asked.

    There was a laugh, though it was a raspy, metallic thing. "This is your superior, you wretched machine. I am the one who will break you, and end the chaos you bring to the world."

    I really wasn't in the mood to humor this person. "I already have a nemesis." I replied flatly. I didn't cut the connection as I wanted to track where this was coming from, but with the system turned against me it was proving to be difficult.

    The mystery voice laughed again, but it was a bit more strained. "Of course. You think this beneath your notice, don't you? Just another villain plot to foil before returning home without a care."

    "I'm a little busy right now, so if you could get to the point?"

    "The point is your defeat, at my hands, for your audacity!" He shouted. "But this is a matter to be settled in the physical, not here. And for any true contest, there should be stakes."

    Suddenly another audio feed cut in. It was the sound of flames, and a sobbing scream. It was equal parts pain and terror. It was M'gann's voice.

    "Let's call it incentive," The man said, sadistic pleasure in his tone. "If you want to save your companion, just go get her. As for the stage, well, I'm sure you'll figure it out scrap." I was forced out of the system.

    ….

    This feels... very familiar.

    =====A=====​

    Sorry this took so long, but the last month has been really busy. I traveled, got sick, nearly had to move out of my apartment, but managed to get and move in a new roommate at the last second. Oof.
     
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    • With that turn of phrase - I bet it's that General Harjavti, who fought him way back in Byalia, got smashed out of the plane and cyborged before replacing Queen Bee in the Light in Interlude 3. No wonder he's mad; Machina is unknowingly pulling a Bison on him, not even remembering the life-changing fight that nearly killed him.

    "For you, the day Machina graced your nation was the most important day of your life. For me, it was Tuesday."
     
    So...to be honest it feels a little bit like Machina was holding an idiot ball for this chap. People getting irrationally irritated, near riots, high tension? That was a flag last chap, but the causes could be innumerable. Miss Martian being debilitated when there has NEVER previously been mention of that happening to a Martian naturally? Color that flag bright red and stencil 'psychic shenanigans' on it. The team cinnamon roll flaring up and getting aggressive without provocation or prior signs? That's it, close it up, there is a clear psychic threat in the area and the team is compromised.

    Instead the team (the one that has dealt with enemy psychics mind, and has one on their team) figures there's something screwy but focus more on air/water contamination, and never try to follow up on Miss Martians psychic issues (like having her do a personal scan as she just showed would have worked, or used Machina's Ansible Form to cut through all resistance).

    Blah. This isn't a real big deal tbh, and it seems like the deception is kinda necessary to get them in the vulnerable position needed for the plot...but this feels like a really stupid series of events given how experienced the team has gotten. And with enemy mental alteration in particular.

    On a seperate note, I really am hoping the bad guy turns out to be the Cyborg dictator, or at least that there is evidence that he is behind things. Because Machina is going to record everything, and it's be nice to see a DC criminal 'leader' actually face global consequences.

    There's plenty of BS reasons real dictators and other a-holes are ignored by the international community, or why super-heroes wouldn't be tolerated toppling them because of the precedent it sets and the interests disrupted. But actively collaborating with extra-terrestrial invaders whose MO is to kill their victims or enslave them as brutally as possible...the argument really shouldn't be hard. I'm sure there would be some ideological and/or stubborn fools, but convincing the world that Apocalypse is bad and all it's puppet organizations (criminals, super villains, or even Nations) need dismantling post-haste really shouldn't be hard. And it'd be nice to read about the DC UN actually seeing sense and getting proactive.
     
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    Hoo boy, things are getting exciting. I do wonder, will we see an interlude from Miss Martian's perspective the hostage or Starfire's persective as they kick ass in the next update?
    I sure do hope our dear Manhunter gets pissed on behalf of his niece and bring down some Martian wrath on Psimon's ass when he finds out about the mind whammy after this episode's over.
     
    Trilogy Prions said:
    Hoo boy, things are getting exciting. I do wonder, will we see an interlude from Miss Martian's perspective the hostage or Starfire's persective as they kick ass in the next update?
    I sure do hope our dear Manhunter gets pissed on behalf of his niece and bring down some Martian wrath on Psimon's ass when he finds out about the mind whammy after this episode's over.
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    I suspect that it's M'gann who is going to be bringing some Martian wrath down on him, as there's been hints throughout the story since Bialya that at some point she's going to go all Burning Martian.

    Satire Swift said:
    But… there was something that bothered her about Jacob, something she couldn't talk about with him. Because it was something she saw when she had read his mind while trying to get her memory back. She tried to stick to only things about her, but some other things bled through. Most of it was hazy and indistinct, but there was one image she had seen that kept floating up in the back of her mind. It didn't have much importance to him, but she couldn't understand why he would think of such a thing.

    Of a Martian Burning-

    She shook her head and made a small noise, Connor looking at her in concern. "You all right?"

    She blinked and looked at him, the thought fading. "Just a stray thought, I'm fine."
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    Satire Swift said:
    The room was on fire, what remained of the furniture smashed into the walls crumbling into cinders. In the center of the room on her knees was Miss Martian, looking straight ahead with a terrified look on her face. And rising out of the floor in front of her was the demon, it's hands outstretched to grasp the sides of her head.

    "Miss Martian!"

    I started to move-

    The sound of the sonic boom hit me at the same time I realized I was tumbling back through the air, and I roughly slammed into the wall next to the door. It took me a full second to parse the now completely changed scene in front of me.

    Most of the fires had been blown out, with only a few sputtering flames left around the edges of the room. And where the oni had been, there was now a very angry looking Superboy with his fist extended. To the upper right side of the room there was a hole that showed he had taken the direct route here. And on the left side there was a much larger hole, showing where the demon had been made to leave with extreme prejudice.

    I pulled myself out of the cratered wall and stepped forward, looking between the pair and the 'exit' hole that had been made. When I was in front of it, I could see that there were in fact half a dozen holes lined up, terminating in the outside of the building. I could see where the demon had embedded itself in the outside wall of the building across the street.

    "M'gann!" Superboy turned and knelt, scooping his teammate up in his arms. "It's alright, everything's alright."

    Miss Martian latched on to him, and started shaking a little less, but was muttering. "Burning… burning..."

    I frowned, but I didn't have time to address that, and flew out through the destruction.
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    Satire Swift said:
    His mind went back to the hotel room, wondering if that sort of thing happened again he would be fast enough. If he lost contact, if a threat got there first, if everything was on fire-

    He sat up a little straighter as a thought occurred to him. Looking down at M'gann he sent a thought through the link they usually kept. <Hey, I was wondering, when I found you...> he trailed off, not sure how to broach the subject.

    M'gann looked up at him, her expression plaintive but she nodded <Yes?>

    <Back at the hotel, the room where I found you. That demon didn't show any ability to make fire. And it didn't look like any of the electrical wiring had caused it. So, where did all the fire come from?>

    What came from her was not words so much as the sensation of pure panic, and her body froze in his arms. Connor felt his own panic rise. <I'm sorry! I didn't-!>

    <It's fine!> She interrupted, calming down. <I just… I don't remember. Once I was affected by the fear effect, everything became hazy. There was a lot of magic being thrown around, maybe, maybe that was the cause?>

    <Yeah… probably.> Connor reassured her by pulling his arms a little tighter around her. She smiled back at him before looking back at the tv. He pushed down that little nagging sensation in the back of his mind and joined her.
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    I think that Psimon has essentially been hammering on the Big Red Burning Button inside M'gann's mind without knowing what it does. Because hey, poking her brain like that makes her angry and unstable which is what he wants, and what's the worst that could happen?
     
    Pity, I was hoping this fic would resist including that bit of lore from the comics because Burning Martians don't make sense in YJ.

    Burning Martians are the answer to the question "Why are Martians with Kryptonian level invulnerability terrified of a lit match?"

    Well in YJ Martians don't have Kryptonian level invulnerability and aren't afraid of a lit match but physiologically vulnerable to heat. Which makes sense since Mars' average temperature is about -81 degrees F. Martians would find Antarctica warm.

    So the correct answer to "Why are Martians with Kryptonian level invulnerability terrified of a lit match?" in YJ is "How high are you right now?"
     
    stsword said:
    So the correct answer to "Why are Martians with Kryptonian level invulnerability terrified of a lit match?" in YJ is "How high are you right now?"
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    I mention in an info post that Martian fear of fire is analogous to human aversion to blood and gore. People instinctively shy away from that as they assoate it with death and harm. And also like that instinctual aversion, it can be muted through exposure, like how doctors can see someone with horrifying injuries and not feel revulsion. J'onn has pretty much lost his fear of fire by this point after living on earth for so long.
     
    18.4
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    • =====A=====​

    It wasn't hard to find where he wanted me to go. The airport was obvious enough, but more than that one of the massive plane hangars had started emitting a GPS signal. Miss Martian's GPS signal. The conversation between me and the rest of my team while I had been en-route had been both brief and tense. They relented though, and as I flew past the border fences of the airport my team moved out of their hiding places and charged after me.

    As I approached the hangar I didn't bother with the door. Arcing downwards toward the building, the apertures on my hands opened to fire beams of green plasma at a spot on the roof. A spot a few meters wide was blown open and I dived into the gap. A second or so later I slammed into the hangar floor, my gaze fixed on a spot in front of me. Almost the entire hangar was empty, save for a few cargo containers… and the small comm device at my feet.

    I heard a snap in the air, and the sensors in my body went wild. Looking up at the hole in the ceiling I made, I saw the barely visible shimmer of a barrier, and radio communication was cut off. That's when I heard the slow clapping, and my gaze was brought up and to the side, to the figure standing on the catwalk.

    I felt a moment of confusion as the first thing that entered my mind on seeing him was 'Cyborg'. His body was armored in a slightly patchwork fashion, bits of tanned flesh exposed on his torso and arms. His right arm was gauntleted, while the other was some kind of cannon down from the elbow (making the clapping a somewhat awkward affair). A good portion of the right side of his head was plated along with a red optic that replaced his eye, and his lower jaw was completely artificial.

    But the New God circuitry patterned over parts of his frame indicated just where the tech had come from. And there were also some things I'd describe as more 'personal' touches. The curve of the shoulder plates resembled epaulets, and the plate covering his left breast was etched with designs that reminded me of military medals. Add that to the beret he wore and the man gave off the air of a generalissimo.

    "And there he is, right on time." The man drawled, his voice no less metallic in person. "And yet so restrained, you only punched a hole through the roof. I half expected you to tear it apart from the air."

    "Where is she?" I asked, remaining motionless.

    A cruel smile formed on his face. "Ah of course, you couldn't risk harming your teammate. Well, she is busy being disciplined. As will the rest of your children once we catch them."

    I could see from my drones that were outside the hangar that several of the enemy drones had also made an appearance. I set my drones to follow attack protocols, but as none of my team had made it into the hangar with me, they were forced to scatter to avoid the incoming firefight.

    But regardless, the man continued. "You on the other hand are a different matter. I know full well of how you resist such discipline. Of being shown your proper place. Now, it has been arranged that this can be corrected, through your destruction."

    I tilted my helmeted head. "Is that what all of this has been about? Sabotaging the city's reconstruction efforts, using psychics to mind control the populace of the city into being more violent... all just to get my attention?"

    "Only the latter bits." He replied. "This operation did not account for your interference, but it was adjusted. After this city falls to chaos, the broken forms of you and your team will be found, as a testament to your failure. And if the manipulation of the media afterwards is done right, the Titans will be blamed for both the police overreaction and the destruction of the airport." He paused a moment, then shrugged a little. "But maybe that's hoping too much. Either way, I'll be satisfied so long as you're rust."

    Even though I stood still, every sensor on my body was pinging the environment around me. "And you think taking us down will be that easy?"

    "Oh you will struggle to be sure, but you'll learn your place before this is over." He grinned with shining teeth. "Now, release the warhounds."

    It was only because I was scanning that I noticed something rushing at me from behind. I spun out of the way before firing an energy blast from my palm at the thing that almost slammed into me, not that it did much damage. The large mass slid to a stop and I got a good look at it.

    The thing that stalked back towards me resembled a mechanical wolf, though one big enough that it stood as tall as me at the shoulder. It's lean body was covered in chrome, along with vicious spikes along it's torso. The thing let out something between a growl and the screech of metal on metal as it opened it's jaw, and I saw a red light bloom in its mouth.

    I stepped to the side in time to dodge the dark red energy that poured from its mouth, something between plasma and a slow motion flame. I burst towards it and ducked low before I came up, slamming my hand into the thing's jaw. It flew back from the impact, and for the moment the mouth closed the flames backed up and burst out the seams of its neck. It sputtered and coughed, like a real animal, and though damaged it was still standing.

    Before I could press the advantage, another of the mechanical beasts charged at me from my right, forcing me to fly upwards. Several more of these warhounds came, ripping they way out of the containers to jump at me. I spun and weaved in the air, but when I had a clear shot I fired off a beam at the cyborg. But a shimmering half-dome of energy formed in front of him, blocking the shot. I was then forced to move as the warhounds beneath me spewed more of that red fire-breath in my direction. Since the hangar was massive though, I had plenty of room to get out of the way.

    Given the moment of relative safety, I checked on my teammates, or at least tried to. Only the Zeta comms could get through the barrier that surrounded the hangar, which limited how I could keep track of the others. My drones just outside were having trouble keeping up with the action, but more importantly I was still getting a response back from all of their comms. I had to assume everything was still good on their end.

    I refocused on the cyborg. "What was the point of all this?" I yelled out. "Why force a city to raze itself to the ground? What's there to gain? For that matter, what could you and your cronies possibly gain by helping Ocean Master kick off the Deep Night?"

    The man strolled a little on the catwalk, almost amused by my question. "A barbarian like you will always fail to see the larger picture. Plans of a scope you couldn't possibly understand."

    Even as I rained more energy blasts down at the dogs nipping at my heels, I audibly sighed. "So, you don't actually know anything, and are just trying to puff yourself up. Figures I'd get another lackey."

    He stopped his strut, and a frown formed on his face. "You'll find that I a great deal under my comma-"

    "Yeah, whatever." I interrupted. "I know your type. You like to think you're part of the elite, but you're always just someone's lapdog. And more importantly, it always ends with you sniveling and begging after you lose."

    His face twisted in pure fury as he slammed his arms down on the rails, bending them. "How dare you, you insolent scrap?! You think that cabal controls me?! Without the technology I provided, they never would have been able to control those monsters in the first place! And without my guidance, they will continue to flail in ignorance against you and the League! I will show you all the so-called light!"

    As he yelled this, one of the containers in the hangar suddenly burst open and a small swarm of those X-shaped drones flew out. Half of them formed up behind the cyborg but the rest came after me, firing off a barrage of energy beams. My movement suddenly curtailed, I did my best to dodge and fire back at the machines swarming around me. I managed to pick off a few, but most of my effort was spent dodging and trying not to be completely surrounded by them. When half a dozen of them formed into a loose ring around me I was forced to hurl myself back towards one of the hanger walls to avoid the crossing energy beams

    As I slammed into the wall, one of the warhounds that had been waiting below me took it's chance to strike. It ran clear up the wall and with a mechanical snarl bit into my leg. It didn't penetrate my armor, but it was enough of a grip to drag me down to the floor. It slammed me into the ground twice, but as it lifted it's head up for a third time I blasted the machine at the base of it's jaw. It's grip loosened and my momentum sent me tumbling.

    I rolled to my feet and found that the circle of drones had reformed into a tight group around me. But they didn't open fire. Instead, lines of red electricity arched between them before connecting to the ground around me. All of a sudden the air became charged and… thick, for lack of a better term. I could barely move, my body still like it was buried in mostly dry concrete.

    The glow around the drones increased as I heard the cyborg say "A concentrated electrostatic field, powerful enough to completely dissolve the connections between your nanites. Something I had made just for you." I didn't see so much as feel his vicious grin. "And thus you end, at the hands of a foe you don't even remember. Goodbye, Machina."

    The whole space I was in was suddenly filled with blinding light and crackling energy, and I let out a scream.

    Luckily, after several long seconds, I heard Superboy yell over the comm "Found her! Western service tunnels!"

    I stopped screaming. Ok, enough acting.

    The field was hard to move in, but not impossible, and after a few seconds I pushed out of the red field and came to a stop in front of it. I calmly looked up at the cyborg, who was suddenly very confused by what he was seeing. "I'm sorry," I said, "Was that supposed to do something?" Without looking I pointed my hand back and blasted one of the drones, causing the field to collapse.

    "What?! How?! I designed that to attack your very foundation perfectly! You couldn't have possibly adapted to it!"

    My voice took on a more 'heroic' tone as I said. "I'll be happy to tell you how, after your surrender General Harjavti. Yes, in spite of what you seem to think, I know who you are. And your brother will be very disappointed in you." After the Bialya mission I had looked up as much information I could about the people at that base. Now, General Harjavti was not supposed to be there, considering he was a general from the neighboring country of Qurac (and the president's brother). But the medals he had worn when I fought him the first time were distinctive enough that I managed to figure him out. And him calling me 'scrap' earlier clued me in to who I was dealing with. Which made it rather easy to push his buttons.

    The general grimaced, though he calmed slightly. "I see that you must always be difficult. Fine. There is still the matter of your captured teammate-"

    "Oh don't worry. The rest of the Titans are seeing to that." At that moment, the image of all my teammates outside flickered and disappeared revealing them to be the hologram drone I had brought with me instead. They had been the big, obvious distraction while my actual teammate had searched for Miss Martian more discreetly. And as set up as our enemies were, it looked like my hunch was right that they weren't prepared to hide from Superboy's X-ray vision.

    The general was about to say something when his artificial eye glowed and he stopped, no doubt getting an update from his own people about where my team really was. His face then twisted into something ugly. "Oh just destroy the piece of scrap already!"

    I leapt back, taking a moment to destroy the rest of the cage drones as the warhounds converged on me. Surrounded as I was, I had no clean avenues of escape, and several leaped at me to prevent me from just flying upwards. Normally I would have to brute force my way out of a situation like this, but this time I had a different option. Which was due to the same reason I hadn't been affected by the field.

    This wasn't my normal body.

    Access: Kid Flash.

    My internals shifted slightly, and as soon as I took a step forward every hound slowed down to a crawl. Even the ones in midair. I stepped around the one closing in to trap me, my fists lashing out at their joints. I couldn't quite punch with my full strength in this state, but it was enough force that I could feel things give beneath my fists. And the extra vibrations I added to my fist only increased the damage. I slid to a stop on the other side of them, and as I slowed down time resumed it's normal pace, the hounds slamming into the empty space I had just been in and crumpling.

    It was an odd feeling, controlling a body that wasn't completely malleable in form, but there was no denying the efficacy of Ivo's work. I had worked on the second Amazo body I took from Ivo for months, both studying and eventually modifying it for my own use. I had started keeping it in that coffin-like container in Moya for just such an occasion when my nanite body would be a hindrance. Such as when I knew I was going to encounter someone who had a grudge against me, and was likely prepared for my usual tricks. I had managed to have a cloaked Moya meet me midway to the airport, and I swapped out before anyone noticed.

    Though that didn't mean I had left my old body, quite the opposite. Aside from changing the outer chassis to match my armored form, I replaced the primary cpu with a high bandwidth Zeta Ansible. I had turned the android into a second body I could control remotely. I was still firmly inside my nanite body back in Moya. I didn't have the skill to control two bodies in combat yet, so for now I would have to pick one depending on the situation.

    I picked up speed again as the remaining drones opened fire on me. They had a somewhat easier time tracking my movements, but I was still too fast to hit while in motion. Most were high up in the air, but I weaved in between the few that were ground level. I timed it just right so that several of them shot each other or some of the warhounds in the process. I had been emulating Starfire earlier, but now I had to get a little creative.

    While most of my focus was on the fight, I still heard bits of what was happening with the rest of the team. And it wasn't going as smoothly as I hoped. "Superboy, don't!" "Rrraaagh!" "Damn it, we have to get her out of that machine!"

    I suddenly broke away from the machines I had been running through, instead moving to run up a clear section of the hanger wall before I sharply turned and ran straight at the general. In my sped up state I could see the man strain as he turned to face me as fast as he could, though I could tell he wouldn't even make it all the way before I reached him. My fist lashed out as soon as I got in range, but that same half dome shield formed to protect him. Something about the vibration of my fist caused it to destabilize, and suddenly it exploded outwards, tossing me from the wall back to the ground.

    I hit the ground and tumbled, but just as I got my feet under me three of the warhound were already on top of me. I didn't have time to accelerate before they pinned me to the ground. They started to gnaw at my limbs and head, and I was forced to change tactics.

    Access: Miss Martian.

    Suddenly my rigid body became much more flexible and elastic, and my outer plates separated as the metallic mesh underneath stretched out. I twisted under their grip and one of my arms snaked around one of the warhounds' legs. I knocked it off balance and toppled it into the others, letting myself slip free and entangle myself with them more. The beast-like machine had no real way of striking at me, and I proceeded to slap them around with each other. It was almost absurd, my metal body stretching like Plastic Man, but Ivo knew what he was doing when he built the Physics Modulation Engine.

    It wasn't exactly copying powers, it was more a form of emulation. The PME incrementally modified physical constants inside my frame using machine-learning methods, trying to replicate the readings from the sensors as much as it could. It was remarkably similar to what the Bleed manipulators in my original body did, just applied from a different direction. It was also the reason the two didn't play well together: two entirely different methods of altering physics tended to fall apart if they're occupying the same space.

    At some point the general must have gotten tired of me manhandling the warhounds, because it wasn't long before I saw the drones line up in a firing line. I was just able to duck behind my three grapple partners before the barrage of energy beams lanced at me. My 'shields' were taking the worst of it, but they would get torn apart pretty quickly.

    "What's happening to Psimon?" "Fire! Why is there so much fire?!" "Suffer!"

    I took stock of my options. I only recently got the Amazo body operational, and I hadn't yet gained the League's permission to scan them for their powers, though I did have all of the Titans loaded into the body's memory.

    With one addition, as he happened to stop by the day I was doing the test.

    Access: Red Tornado.

    Red wind spiraled around my lower half and I rose into the air on my own cyclone, the broken remains of the warhounds rising up with me. In moments I expanded the cyclone to fling the broken bits of metal at my attackers. I took out a fair number of the drones, even as their firing line scattered. Not wanting to lose my momentum, I threw out my hand and a lightning infused twister ripped out and slammed into the catwalk the general was standing on. As I dragged the twister towards him I saw thrusters fire across his frame, launching out of the way and landing on the more solid concrete ground.

    I kept moving the twister to track him, but the cyborg hunkered down and the drones around him moved to form an interlocking shield in front of him. The swirling wind hit, but he held firm. So, I cranked it up. The entire hangar was filled with twisters and lightning as I poured out all the energy I could. The few remaining drones and warhounds were torn apart as the entire structure shuddered from the localized hurricane I was creating inside of it.

    "M'gann, stop! You're safe now!" "What was that?" "Pull back, it's gonna blow!"

    Eventually, I let the winds die down… and saw that while most of everything else in the hangar had been demolished, the shield of drones was still standing. And an instant later they parted enough to let the cyborg loose a shot from his cannon arm at me. I cut the cyclone supporting me and dropped, letting the crackling ball of energy pass overhead. I landed on the ground with a heavy thud and straightened. "Looks like I'm not the only one being difficult." I said loudly.

    The wall of drones broke apart slightly, just enough to see the other man seething. "You, you still mock me!? If you could have done this the entire time, why did you bother pretending to be so pathetic?"

    "So you would talk." I remarked. "You seemed like the type. Thanks for spelling things out, by the way."

    The general scoffed. "Is that supposed to scare me? Make me think I slipped you some new information? Please, I did not tell you anything important or that you didn't already know."

    "True," I agreed, before the air shimmered next to me and one of my last remaining recon drones appeared. The one that had followed me into the breach I made, and had just barely survived the typhoon I created.

    The one that had been recording and transmitting the fight from the very beginning.

    "But the public didn't know that. Smile for the camera, will you?"

    At first, the general was unimpressed. "The radio jammers are still active, you don't have-" He cut himself off when I made a holographic screen showing what was happening back at the concert. How I had co-opted the sound system and main screen to show off our little conversation to thousands of people. His artificial eye glowed red for a moment as he checked for himself with his own network, and his face twisted into a rictus of hate when he realized that not only was I telling the truth, but I was livestreaming it to the whole internet.

    Fun thing about Zeta Ansibles was that it really didn't matter what the local airwaves were like. I was bouncing the feed from myself, to the Mountain, to back to the city, but that little technical detail didn't matter to the people watching. All that mattered was that they knew someone had been manipulating them into tearing each other down.

    I moved to casually lean on the drone. "So, you were saying something about being responsible for the Deep Night In-"

    The general let out a scream of fury before pointing his gun arm at me and fired. I had been expecting as much and dodged out of the way, but I left the drone remaining where it was. It was promptly disintegrated by the ball lightning. "This means nothing!" He raged. "I will still destroy you, and then-!"

    I didn't really pay attention, instead subvocalizing into my comm. "Starfire, mission complete. He monologued for all the world to hear. What's your status?"

    "Miss Martian has been recovered." She replied, though there was a bit of tension in voice. "Psimon was killed when the machine he was connected to exploded."

    "How's Miss Martian?"

    "...She's going to need some time to recover." Just barely over Superboy's comm, I thought I heard a sob.

    ...

    Access: Superboy.

    The concrete beneath me shattered as I launched myself forward at blinding speed, near parallel to the ground. The ranting cut off and the cannon arm raised to fire, but my arm pierced into the ground beneath me before flinging chunks of concrete at my target. The pieces pelted the arm and face, throwing off the aim and letting me close the distance.

    Before I could reach, thrusters fired on the cyborg's frame, causing me to only clip the shoulder with my fist rather than the chest. The pauldron shattered into metal shrapnel while my target pulled back, and with a sound the remaining drones moved back into a defensive formation to block me. I adjusted course and shot forward again, and my eyes glowed before firing heat rays at them. The top one melted almost instantly, the slag pouring down on the one beneath it as I swept in a line. A gap opened up and the cannon arm fired again, but I moved out of the way and around my target in a tight circle.

    Again and again I punched the ground to launch shards of concrete, moving at the speed of bullets. The drones did their best to shield but they were taken down one by one through shrapnel or heat rays. The return fire was erratic, off balance. Eventually there were only two of the drones left, and I dashed in to simply grab both of them. I then brought my hands together in a clapping motion, the sheer force of it causing both the drones to disintegrate and a concussive wave to blast forth.

    The cyborg was sent head over heels away from me, and by the time it was standing I nearly closed the distance. The arm cannon fired off another ball of lightning, trying to force me to dodge and gain distance. I didn't. I held up my left arm and charged forward.

    The blast shattered the plating on my arm and part of my face, but I broke through the sound and fury and reached the cyborg. The exposed metallic mesh and wires that was my arm reached out and grabbed the faceplate, and a shift in momentum left me drive the cyborg into the ground. A muffled scream tried to make its way past my hand as one of my fingers crushed the artificial eye. The cannon arm raised to awkwardly point at me, but my free arm grabbed the barrel and shoved it aside, while the rest of my body came down hard. One of my knees slammed down into the stomach, and the other crushed a metal leg into bits. Then I started to pull.

    A mix of both groaning metal and muffled screams filled the hangar. The New God limb was durable enough to resist brute force, so I used heat rays on full blast at the joint. The metal softened enough for me to finish the job, and the arm tore free with a shriek. I tossed it aside before my hand pieced into the still hot metal of the stump. I tore out more metal, digging deeper into the chest-

    There was a sudden burst of light, and in the next instant there was a telescoping portal of energy between the cyborg and the floor. Gravity, no, something else tried to pull what was in my hands down into the well. I tried to fly up away from it. But my target was being pulled down. For a moment I hung in the air straining against the pull. I wasn't going to be able to both keep my grip and pull away.

    My eyes locked on to the organic part of the face and glowed red-

    Suddenly the weak organic arm moved towards the belt. I couldn't stop it without losing my grip, and a small device was pulled out. A button was pressed-

    It wasn't an explosion as much as a raw blast of force which sent me tumbling back through the air, and I found my hands empty. I tumbled and rolled to my feet, but by the time I set eyes on the spot, the light of the Boom Tube winked out of existence. I stared at the spot for a long moment, then checked my sensory data.

    [Target: General Harjavti - 87% to complete scan.]

    Back in my other body, I let out a breath before heading out.

    ----------------------​

    As always, there was some clean up to be done after the fighting was finished.

    A lot of explanations had to be given to the Barcelona police. And a lot of apologies had to be given to the local government. I also apologized to Daft Punk for interrupting their concert, but considering the circumstances they were pretty good sports about it. In light of what was revealed by my broadcast, pretty much all parties involved were willing to give some leeway, at least in the short term. There were also some damages that needed to be addressed, but that was the easy stuff. The hard stuff was going to take more work to fix.

    Standing on the tarmac of the airport, I was left hanging outside of Moya's entrance. We were surrounded by a number of police cars and emergency vehicles, but most of my attention was on my team who had taken refuge in the bioship. I had only seen M'gann for a moment, enough to give her a check-up. Physically she was fine, but...

    Lost in my thoughts, I almost didn't notice when a new car pulled up, a sleek black vehicle. The man that stepped out of it was dressed in a professional suit, and walked right towards me without even looking at anyone else. He was broad chested and had silver-white hair, even though he looked to be in his thirties. As he approached, I asked "You with the government? I already spoke with a few of you."

    "Not quite," he replied, and he pulled out a badge from inside his pocket. "King Faraday, Interpol."

    That brought me up short for a moment. "You got here fast," I eventually remarked. Considering the scope of what was uncovered here, it wasn't surprising that Interpol would take an interest. And they did have the capacity to actually do something about it, unlike the Interpol back in my home universe. Over here they had the power to actually investigate and arrest international criminals.

    "I was already here," Faraday put his badge away and fixed his stare on me. "We had noticed some red flags with international shipping and aid. I was sent to investigate." His lips formed into a slight frown. "Then you and your team blew everything wide open."

    "You're welcome." I said flatly. "Did you get my email about all the other things your agency apparently missed?" Email was a bit of an understatement. After the Deep Night I had sent dossiers on the people we had been fighting to most intelligence agencies connected to the U.N., but I also made sure Interpol got a copy too.

    "We got a whole lot of information that's next to impossible to verify, yes." He shot back. "What happened to the general? I know for a fact he's not in custody."

    "Got away. I tried to disable him, but it turns out he can make portals on demand. Don't have a way to counter that yet."

    Faraday grunted. "I can't say I don't appreciate your help with… his type, but we both know that your excuse for being in the city to begin with is bull. You shouldn't be here interfering in international affairs, Titan."

    "You're right. We shouldn't have to do your job." I pointed out. "We're supposed to punch supervillains and stop street crime, not chase evil covert organizations. But no one seems to actually be doing the latter, so we had to pick up the slack."

    Faraday's flat expression didn't change, but after several seconds he said "While I don't care for your tone... you are unfortunately right on that last account."

    I paused. "What do you mean?"

    "No one was looking into the group behind the Deep Night. More than that, there's no record that any agency even tried." He elaborated. "Either before or after the event. I've been looking into it, and I've gotten more than a few unfortunately literal dead ends. A few agencies not bothering or not being in a position to investigate is understandable, but all of them?" He shook his head. "With what's happened here, it's looking more and more like not only are these people real, but they've already compromised the intelligence community."

    "...How?" I asked incredulously.

    "I don't know, we only have a very broad picture of what's happening. It's going to take a lot of work, careful work, to find out how far this goes. And while we're doing that, it's going to be difficult to keep track of what this organization is currently doing."

    Ah, so that's it. "And you'd like us to keep going as we currently have, right?" I asked "Well, the Titans are always happy to work with law enforcement. And since neither of us is in the mood for dancing around, let me make something clear." I leaned in and my eyes narrowed slightly. "We'll work with you, not for you. If you want us to follow your lead, you're going to have to prove yourselves worth it first. Because right now, we don't have a lot of faith in your institution. Understand?"

    Faraday held the stare for a moment longer before he grunted. "We'll be in touch," he said, turning away. "For now, feel free to celebrate. This is your win after all."

    I stared at his back for a moment before I turned and headed into the bioship. "...I wish it actually felt like one."

    =====A=====

    ​
    Don't worry, I'm going to go over what happened with the rest of the team in more detail in the next part.

    That said, the next bit is going to get... kinda rough. So get ready for that.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • I do ever so enjoy the classic "thanks for telling the world your evil plot, now smile for the camera!" ploy. It's rarely a surprise on our side when it happens, but it remains satisfying all the same.

    Poor M'gann though.
     
    YES!
    I cheered when he showed off his acquired Amazo tech!
    A nice finishing chapter for this arc, thank you for writing and sharing it!
     
    Where'sMySword said:
    During the Deep Night, Machina used both plasma beams and flight, with his Reactor mode. Until Satire clarified that he had been emulating Starfire, I hadn't even questioned it.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Well yeah Amazo emulates powers by using shapeshifting to grow machines, so like a sonic cannon for Black Canary, extendable arms for Martian Manhunter etc.

    Machina is a mass of nanites who use shapeshifting to grow machines, so the abilities he's using as amazo are just more of the same.
     
    What's fun is how the general seems so proud of the whole "I'll use this field to attack the nanites" strategy like its original. To be fair, "dissolve the connection" is different than the other field Machina dealt with, but still.

    Also, at this point Machina might want to figure out how to modify the nanites themselves to be able to directly connect to each other. They obviously wouldn't have much or any flexibility, but if they could connect at 4 points with just a little flexibility they'd form a lattice. Like carbon fiber. All 6 sides and they'd be able to form a crystalline steucture.*

    The big advantage is that all these fields that either sink into nanites or attack their connections wouldn't work. Because the nanites would be one large object.

    * Notr even metal has a crystalline structure, so it's net automatically fragile.
     
    EmperorArthur said:
    Also, at this point Machina might want to figure out how to modify the nanites themselves to be able to directly connect to each other. They obviously wouldn't have much or any flexibility, but if they could connect at 4 points with just a little flexibility they'd form a lattice. Like carbon fiber. All 6 sides and they'd be able to form a crystalline structure.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    He kind of already did that back during the Deep Night Invasion. When he went into reactor form, he pulled out his full mass and compressed his body down, causing the nanites to lock into each other. With the result being that he was more dense but it severely limited his shapeshifting and auto-repair.

    The other tricky thing here is that the field is not only holding the nanites together, but also transfers data and power between them. Even if he locks up his form before hand, that would still just turn him into a brick rather than a pile of sand. Possibly recoverable, but not if there's an enemy nearby. Getting around this would require rebuilding the nanites from the ground up.

    Which he may or may not be doing.
     
    Satire Swift said:
    The other tricky thing here is that the field is not only holding the nanites together, but also transfers data and power between them. Even if he locks up his form before hand, that would still just turn him into a brick rather than a pile of sand. Possibly recoverable, but not if there's an enemy nearby. Getting around this would require rebuilding the nanites from the ground up.

    Which he may or may not be doing.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Yeah, I should have been more clear there, in that those connections wouldn't just be mechanical. Another way to think about it is that it might be short range, but the nanites are basically all wireless and what the general tried here was extreme jamming.

    The only reason why he wouldn't be working on re-building the nanites or at least improving them is if other projects had his attention first. You've been pretty clear that he's being proactive in examining both himself in general along with what can hurt him, and coming up with countermeasures. I get the feeling that Amazo is the stop gap here actually. Rebuilding advanced tech from the ground up isn't easy, especially compared to remote piloting something that already exists. Plus, re-designing something like this involves understanding it. So, if Amazo and the nanites work on the same "modify physics" principles, understanding how that works is pretty important. Plus, wouldn't it be cool if he could make the nanites turn off their bleed generators and/or act like Amazo? Especially since, I'm pretty sure it was mentioned, the bleed generators is the reason for the mass limit.

    Him actually pulling it off is a maybe. But it's a nice long term goal at least.
     
    EmperorArthur said:
    . Plus, wouldn't it be cool if he could make the nanites turn off their bleed generators and/or act like Amazo?
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    The problem with turning off the Bleed generators is that they'd need an alternate way of powering themselves, and the alternatives are likely to be substantially inferior.

    You know, with the Amazo body one idea would be to build one for Red Tornado and install his CPU in it. He's already a robot, after all; and as long as his scan was included he wouldn't even lose his old powers.
     
    Avernus said:
    The problem with turning off the Bleed generators is that they'd need an alternate way of powering themselves, and the alternatives are likely to be substantially inferior.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    The Amazo body has to have a power source. Plus, we've seen Jacob use a non bleed source already. Though admittedly, having a fusion reactor embedded in his body was dahimself. A more likely option would be either the Amazo tech or capacitors.

    More importantly, as I mentioned, I believe that bleed portal synchronization was the primary limiter for number of nanites he could have. Really need to look that up.

    Cool and practical are two completely different things. This is a superhero story though, so we get to see a bit more of that than in real life. Even then the SR71 and other things like it prove that when the only way to get a result is cool and impractical, sometimes it's still the best way.

    Ooh, I know the next time he's affected by a field like that he could use it to power himself and/or charge the capacitors. Yes, I know electricity doesn't work that way, but it's basically Star Trek style magic anyways.
     
    EmperorArthur said:
    The Amazo body has to have a power source. Plus, we've seen Jacob use a non bleed source already. Though admittedly, having a fusion reactor embedded in his body was dahimself. A more likely option would be either the Amazo tech or capacitors.

    More importantly, as I mentioned, I believe that bleed portal synchronization was the primary limiter for number of nanites he could have. Really need to look that up.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The problem is that powering the nanites themselves is hard; how that was done was one of the first questions he asked the Green Lantern early in the story, that's when he found out about the Bleed tech.
     
    Interlude 11
  • Threadmarks
    • =====A=====​

    Move, pose, say the words.

    Throw, catch, say the words,

    Move, pose, say the words.

    Cheerleading practice was nothing if not routine, and one that the students of Happy Harbor High were diligent about. Normally M'gann found the constant repetition one of the minor downsides of joining the cheer squad, even compared to the rest of the school day. But that day she found herself enjoying the mundanity. She had almost been looking forward to it even. It was something nice and simple. Something that didn't require her to think too hard.

    Still she couldn't be too complacent. She had missed the last practice because- well, she had some catching up to do. This ended up messing with her flow as the team switched to the next phase of their routine as she found herself out of position. She thought they were doing the human pyramid next, but as people moved she realized they were doing something new. She stepped off to the side to get out of the way and watch. As the crew marched around in formation, she didn't know what to do. Just like-

    The massive black and grey throne took up most of the wall, a twisted thing that looked almost like a mix of metallic geometry and rough stone. Just looking at it made her want to pull away, but the mechanical limbs that stretched out from it locked her in place. Small spines dug into her flesh, but those were just a channel to let him in.

    Psimon was seated in the throne, and with a thought the limbs dragged her closer. "Well, well, looks like it falls to me to handle your new education." He said, a deranged look in his eyes. The man had just as many connections between the machine and his body as she did, but he didn't seem to realize how much it was twisting him. Or maybe he just didn't care. "But I'm going to need a little more information on just who I'm working with first. Why don't you tell me more about yourself, little girl?"

    There was no clouding of the mind, no battle of wills like M'gann was expecting. Just something reaching down to the very core of her being and pulling. A scream forced its way out of her throat as she felt herself crack-

    "Megan!"

    M'gann flinched a little, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. She almost missed the Cheer Captain calling her name and gesturing to a group of three. M'gann recognized the formation for a Basket Toss, and she hurried into position. She locked arms with two other cheerleaders before her friend Wendy stepped onto their limbs and was launched into the air.

    M'gann braced herself with the others, arms outstretched to catch Wendy as she tumbled towards her-

    Superboy tumbled towards them, his charge broken as he clutched his head in pain. Focused as Psimon was on Superboy, M'gann noticed Robin slip into the room before he did. This allowed the boy to throw a set of birdarangs at Psimon before the man could react. Psion caught them telekinetically in front of his face, but the weapons suddenly opened up and started screeching a high pitched whine.

    Psimon's concentration was broken by the noise, and connected as she was to him, M'gann felt his pain. She didn't want to feel this, she wanted to be anywhere but here. But she was trapped, her sense of self broken apart with Psimon reaching into the worst parts of her. She could only watch helpless as her team charged-

    Her stance slipped, and she threw the formation off base. There was a surprised yelp as Wendy crashed into the group rather than being caught, her and the lot of them falling to the ground. Luckily M'gann was a lot more durable than she looked and managed to break her human partners' fall with her body.

    "Megan! Wendy!" Sophia, the head cheerleader, trotted over. "Are you alright? What happened?"

    "It was my fault," M'gann quickly said. "I lost my concentration."

    "I'm fine, everyone broke my fall." Wendy added, and the other two girls agreed.

    Sophia took a moment to look them over, then another to see that the rest of the cheer team had stopped to see what was happening. "Alright, break for 5! Then we start back up from the top!" She called out. "Megan, could you hold up for a moment?"

    As the others walked away, Sophia looked at M'gann with her brow knit in concern. "Megan, are you alright? You've been kind of out of it all practice."

    "No, no, I'm fine." She insisted. "I just got distracted, that's all."

    Sophia pressed her lips together. "Come on Megan, I can tell you're not just 'distracted'. You've been like this all week. Something's seriously bothering you. Do… you want to talk about it-"

    "There's nothing to talk about!" M'gann said, just a little too quickly.

    The other girl looked at her sadly before she shook her head. "Take the afternoon off, take a break. I'm putting my foot down." She said firmly before M'gann could protest. "I don't want to do this, but I don't want to risk the other girls' health either because your head wasn't in the game." She reached out and put a hand on M'gann's shoulder "Just… I'm a good listener if you need one, ok?"

    M'gann tried to hide the bitterness she felt settling into her gut as she left.

    ----------------------​

    When M'gann entered the mountain, she had planned to get started making dinner. However, when she passed through the common room she found most of her team there, flipping through channels on the TV. "Hey, you're here!" Wally called out. "Come on, it's your turn to pick what to watch."

    M'gann blinked in confusion before she remembered. Right, it was media night, of course the team would be there. Kori and Jacob were missing, the two of them having business with the League and the Silver respectively. But… "I thought it was Artemis's turn to pick this week."

    The girl in question waved her off. "Eh, I couldn't think of anything I wanted, so I'm passing it to you."

    "Oh, that's nice of you…" M'gann started to say, looking out at the expectant faces of her teammates-

    Her teammates were fighting to get closer to her and Psimon, but he wasn't making it easy. The throne was enhancing Psimon's telekinetic abilities, and the tendrils from the throne itself were knocking them away. M'gann wished she could do something, anything to help, but she had to put all of her focus on just holding herself together. She could still feel Psimon touch in her mind, and even fighting her team he hadn't released his grip.

    In fact, as the fight progressed she could feel his frustration at those getting in his way, at his concentration constantly being broken by attacks. "Enough of this!" He yelled, and used the throne limbs to drag M'gann in front of him. "Surrender, or find out what happens when I take a Martian's mind apart, piece by piece." And to prove his point, he dug even deeper into M'gann's mind, looking for the worst thing he could find.

    Pulled apart as her psyche was, something bubbled to the surface. A thought, a small seed that had come from outside her own mind that had been growing for months. Each dark thought she had suppressed had been sent there, growing and churning. It had been made worse by Psimon's psychic influence on the city. And now, on feeling Psimon's touch dig deeper, it surfaced.

    M'gann screamed in terror, pain, and fury as she Burned.

    "Wait, what is-" Psimon's shout turned into a scream, confusion suddenly turning to fear and pain as he Burned with her. The fire wanted to hurt, wanted to make others suffer the way she had. As much as it hurt and horrified her, it gave her a twisted sense of power. If she had to feel this pain, then she could make others feel it! She… she could…

    She couldn't stop. The flames were spreading and she couldn't stop. One by one she saw her Burning reach her friends and they dropped in pain. Her friends were in danger, she couldn't stop, and she could still feel Psimon touch. She just wanted it to stop-

    M'gann shuddered. "Actually, I think I'll just turn in. You guys can watch without me."

    Kaldur spoke up. "It doesn't have to be a movie. I'm sure we could do something else if you wanted."

    She could see what they were doing, and yet she still couldn't bring herself to stay. "Thanks, but… I'd rather not." Kaldur started to say something else, but she turned and hurried away.

    She made it most of the way to her room before a voice called out behind her "M'gann, wait!" In spite of herself, M'gann turned back to see Conner walk up to her.

    Before he could say anything else, she held out a hand to stop him. "Not yet, Connor. I just… I can't right now." This wasn't the first time since the mission that Connor had tried to talk to her about it. But every time he did, she just felt a hollow pit open inside of her remembering what happened.

    "Well, when can you-" he started to say before he caught himself. "Sorry, I just- I want to make sure you're okay."

    "I'm… fine." She settled on, her tone resigned. "I'm as fine as I can be, considering what I did."

    "M'gann, it's not your fault." Connor insisted. "Jacob said it was a memetic… it was a thing that you accidentally pulled out of his head at some point. It's not actually you."

    "I know that!" She forced out. "But that's not- that doesn't make me feel any better about what happened!"

    Connor looked at her, pained. "Then let me help. Just… please, tell me what I can do to help."

    M'gann looked down at the ground, trying to keep her emotions in check. "I need to be alone," She said. She didn't trust herself to say anything else.

    She didn't look up, but eventually she heard him turn and walk away, leaving her alone in the hallway. She made her way to her room, and on getting there simply dropped herself on to her bed. She stared at the ceiling, and her mind wandered.

    She didn't know how long it lasted, how long everything Burned out of her control. She thought she saw Superboy manage to lift his head in spite of the pain and fire his heat rays at the throne. There was a crash and suddenly she found herself collapsed on the cold ground.

    She shakily lifted her arm in front of her and looked around. She wasn't burning. Nothing was burning. For a treacherous moment, she hoped that it had just been a sort of nightmare. But then she saw her friends picking themselves up off the ground, and she whimpered. It was a nightmare she had made real for all of them.

    Superboy rushed over to her and tore off her limp connections to the throne before pulling her into his arms. She couldn't help but grip tightly to him as tears welled up in her eyes. It was such that she almost missed the sound of struggling behind her. She looked to see Psimon trapped by the ruined remains of the throne, trying desperately to remove his own connections.

    "Help me!" He said as he pawed at the metal tendril at the base of his skull. Smoke and flames were starting to pour from the ruined machine, and were creeping closer. "I'll give you anything you want, just help me!"

    Superboy stared at the man for a long moment before he turned and walked away. M'gann heard him scream for a few moments before it was cut off by an explosion.

    And yet she could still feel him in her head-

    M'gann curled in on herself, trying not to let that pit of bitterness consume her.

    ---------------------​

    She finally came out of her room hours later, long after most of the team went home and Connor went to sleep. Staying in her room had done nothing to quell the ball of anxiety in her gut, so she left it to do one of the few things she could think of that might help: cooking. She wasn't going to be able to get to sleep like this, and she had found the act of making food soothing before.

    And yet as she set about work, she just couldn't get things right. She wanted to make a pie, but measured the ingredients wrong and had to start over. She had an accident in mixing that caused her to lose a good bit of the filling. She couldn't get the designs right on the crust, so she just threw it into the oven in a fit of frustration and stormed off. And when she came back later, she realized she had set the oven temperature too high.

    She cursed and moved to quickly pull the pie out of the oven, setting it down on the counter. The crust was blackened and burned and no doubt it's insides were overcooked as well.

    M'gann… just stopped, and stared at the ruined pastry. The only sound in the kitchen was the clock on the wall ticking. Slowly, she started to shake. Her teeth grit as she tried to get a hold of herself, keep it together. Plates and furniture around her rattled as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying her best to just get everything to stop-

    Arms suddenly wrapped around M'gann, snapping her out of her fugue. "It's alright," Kori's voice whispered in her ear, and M'gann felt the warmth of her body against her. "It's alright."

    All the bits that had started to float fell back down, and M'gann stiffened in surprise. "K-Kori! I- when did you-"

    "I just got in," The other woman said. "And I saw what was happening."

    M'gann twisted a little in the other woman's embrace. "You- I- I'm fine, you don't have to..."

    Close as she was, M'gann couldn't miss the flat look Kori gave her. "I've heard that phrase said to me enough times that I can tell when it's not true. Come with me."

    Somehow, though a combination of physical wrangling and soothing words, Kori had moved the two of them to the common room couch. The Tamaranian still held on to her, letting M'gann lean back against her while she kept her arms around her middle. This wasn't the first time Kori had tried something like this since the mission, but at that moment M'gann was just too tired to fight her off. "Are you going to try and get me to open up too?" She asked in an almost defeated tone.

    "Not if you don't want me to." Kori replied. "But you do know they're just trying to help, don't you?"

    "I know, but…" She trailed off and gestured vaguely.

    Kori didn't ask her to explain, or say anything else. She just continued to hold on to M'gann and gently rock side to side. M'gann tried to summon up her indignation, but given how warm and comfortable she felt in that embrace she couldn't manage it. So she let it be for the moment, taking the time to gather her thoughts.

    Eventually, M'gann managed to figure out what she wanted to say. "I think I have to leave the team."

    She felt Kori go stiff against her. "What? Why?"

    M'gann pulled herself out of Kori's grasp and sat up. "I messed up. I let Psimon in- I mean, he beat me. And it endangered the rest of the team."

    "And they don't hold it against you."

    "It doesn't matter," M'gann muttered. "After what happened I can't trust myself not to hurt my teammates. I just… I can't."

    "M'gann, I don't believe that. Psimon was using you-" The woman cut herself off as M'gann twitched, and then continued. "This was out of your control. You're not going to hurt us. Why do you think-"

    M'gann shook her head, cutting Kori off. "You don't know that. It will only be a matter of time before I mess up again."

    Kori paused. "Well, if you feel that, then maybe you could get some more training with your uncle? He's been a Manhunter for a long time, I'm sure he's experienced something like this before. If you talked to him-"

    "No." M'gann said quickly. "There's nothing he can help with."

    "But I'm sure he'd understand-"

    "No he wouldn't." She said sharply. "He doesn't know what it's like to have the worst part of you brought out. I don't want him to see me as a freak."

    "Wait, you're not-"

    "There's nothing to say! Nothing anyone would understand! Not you, not my uncle, not the team!" She yelled. "I can't get past it! I feel like I've been damaged in a way I can't fix, and it's taking everything just to not fall to pieces! That wretched bit of me is still there and I hate it! Even now I can still feel what that bastard did to me and I just feel so, so… disgusting!"

    M'gann clamped her eyes shut as she tried to calm down. After a few moments she got control of herself and slowly opened her eyes again. She expected to see Kori looking at her with an expression of unease or pity, but that wasn't quite what she saw. For once she couldn't place Kori's expression, the normally open woman's face having turned into a still mask.

    Kori was silent for several long moments. Eventually, she reached out, not to embrace her again, but just to take her hand. "You don't have to talk. But I ask that you listen to me, for just a little bit." M'gann wasn't sure what Kori was going to say, but she gave a shallow nod and the woman continued. "I remember when I was young, when my parents were training me to lead our people, they told me of the atrocities people can bring to bear on each other. What it can do to a person, how it can weigh down their soul. Being young as I was, it wasn't until later I understood what they meant. After I had been given away as a slave."

    Kori looked away, her eyes not focused on anything. "During my enslavement I suffered a number of tortures. I was given out to new 'masters' periodically, high ranking Citadelians or Gordainians. Most of them used me for hard labor, or put me on display as a trophy. I suffered it all, never losing my resolve. But the last one was… different. He liked to pit his slaves against one another in bloodsport, and placed me among them. I tried to convince the other prisoners not to fight, but having been broken for so long they only saw my pleas as a sign of weakness. Most of them ganged up on me when the battle started."

    Kori shifted a little, and M'gann could feel a tension building. "I suppose I was lucky I survived, most of the others didn't. I had to be dragged to my own cell. Chained down to that cold floor, I thought I could not get lower." Her expression hardened. "But then I learned I had not been given my own cell to keep me away from the other. It was because I had captured my slave master's interest."

    With mounting dread, M'gann listened to her continue. "I was exhausted, weak, at his mercy. And he wanted to break me for my defiance. And in his sick mind, there was only one degradation that was suitable." Kori looked back at M'gann. "He raped me."

    M'gann didn't say anything. She couldn't, she could only listen as Kori continued. "That was the thing which broke my resolve to endure. That feeling of filth, of helplessness, of violation that settled in me that I just couldn't stand. I gave in to rage to smother those feelings, and I killed him the first chance I got. I didn't care that it would mean my own death, as I couldn't live with myself otherwise." The woman drew in a deep breath. "I can't say it was the wrong choice, but it did not remove the twisted hurt that I felt."

    "...then what happened?" M'gann hadn't meant to speak, but the soft words slipped out of her. She didn't understand what she was feeling, just that the sense of tension in her core needed the other woman to keep talking.

    "My capture by the Psions, and then my escape." Kori said simply. "With that bit of hope, I remembered everything I had been through up until then… and everything that was waiting for me if I could press on. And with that I realized I could get past it." She sat up a little straighter. "I'm not going to say what happened to me is the same as what happened to you, trying to compare such vile things is pointless. But I want you to know what I've been through, so that you'll believe what I have to say next."

    Kori leaned in and cupped M'gann's face. M'gann froze, and for a moment the only thing she could focus on was Kori's vibrant green eyes, filled with warmth and love.

    "You are stronger than what happened to you. I have lived with you and fought by your side, I know who you are. You have been wounded, but you don't have to let those wounds define you. This pain hurts, but when it fades, the brilliant and wonderful person that you are will still be here."

    There was silence. Then, slowly, M'gann felt that pit of bitterness inside her start to break. That tension, that hollowness she had been trying to crush down simply came apart. She trembled as she lost control of herself, and every emotion she had been trying to hold back rushed forward. A wail worked its way out of the girl's throat as she pitched forward into Kori. The other woman caught her and pulled her in close as M'gann sobbed against her. "It's alright," Kori said while she cried. "Everything is going to be alright."

    They spent most of the night on that couch in each other's embrace, but by the end of it, M'gann started to believe her.

    =====A=====​

    Oh boy, am I nervous about this one. This chapter was particularly stressful for me to write as, well, if anything I've ever written needs to land correctly it's this piece. I spent inordinate amount of time stressing over individual sentences, just to be sure they felt right. And I'm still not sure if they are, but I hope I'm getting the tone where it needs to be.

    Given the stress of this chapter, and the stress I've had for the last few in general, I think I'm going to take the rest of the year off from writing
     
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