Tales of the Titans (IC)

[The Jeffinator]

THE STORY SO FAR...

Issue #1: The Seven Deadly Sins of Cadmus
Issue #2: Coming soon...

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Bowerstone Industrial District
LOS ANGELES, C.A.
Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 22:47 PDT

It was a warm, clear night as Dick Grayson rode his motorcycle through rows of old factories and warehouses. Many of them had been closed down for years, which was what attracted the young vigilante to the area – minimal observers, especially after dark. He had purchased a rundown auto parts manufacturing plant that hadn't been in operation since the 1970s, and since the owner was desperate to sell it, it was a steal.

Dick had no intentions of returning the plant to profitability, but instead used it as his crime-fighting headquarters. The entire property was fenced off and monitored by a network of security cameras equipped with infrared and motion detectors, and the main gate required a DNA scan to open. Within the fenced area were several buildings, though Dick primarily used the loading dock side of the main warehouse because it was blocked from view anywhere beyond the fence.

After pulling his bike up to the gate, a computer panel lit up and scanned his body, followed by a text message on the display:

T-01. ACCESS GRANTED.

He rode into the complex and around the corner of the administrative building and to the loading docks, where a garage door opened as he approached. He pulled inside and stepped off the bike, slipping off his helmet and placing it on the seat. Just a few feet away was a long desk against a wall, lined with several touchscreen computer monitors. Next to the desk were a row of cabinets and shelving units, holding various gadgets and supplies. Further down there was a door to an office that Dick had turned into a small crime lab/clinic, and towards the center of the warehouse he had a workout area with weights, training dummies, and punching bags.

Sitting down in one of the desk chairs, Dick looked at his computer screens, specifically the camera feeds. He had asked a few of his former acquaintances to meet him there at 11:00PM, and very soon they would begin arriving at the gate. A few of the new arrivals were people Dick had never met before directly, but had been vouched for by those he did know. He eagerly awaited their arrival, for he was anxious to discover the truths behind the mysterious Project Cadmus.

 

[Lily_Wight]

Tigress used a swing line to catapult herself over the fence to the industrial park, and bypass the camera watching the perimeter.

She landed silently on the roof of one of the warehouse buildings. She was a little early, intending to watch and see who all got this particular invitation.

One last look around before she settled in revealed another camera watching her. She did her best not to show visible disappointment before dropping off the roof and approaching the door to request access. Nightwing had obviously covered his bases.

"Tigress, as requested."

 

[The Jeffinator]

"Haha, nice try, Tigress," Nightwing laughed as he let her in. Still, he was glad she had not gone into the family business -- he was one of the few people other than Batman to know of her heritage. "Let me just do a quick scan... and... There ya go -- your designation is now T-02, which will allow you to use the front gate at will."

Dick pulled out a few extra chairs and offered her one. "Once the others get here, I'll delve into the details... Listen, Artemis... Thanks for coming. It means a lot."

 

[Sean Renaud]

Micheal 'Star' Lee had taken the bus, several buses actually to get into the general area making absolutely certain that he wasn't being followed. He couldn't imagine anything more embarassing than being followed to a secret meeting the very first time an 'A-Lister' reached out to him. He was dressed about as nonchalantly as one could manage, black boots polished to a shine, black jeans, an NWO T-shirt and a leather jacket. He had a mask stuffed in a pocket but he had no intention of wearing it.

He was still new the hero game, 'Star' wasn't even really certain he considered himself a hero. Sure he'd fought criminals but in nearly every case it has been a matter of self defense. He didn't go on patrols, his identity was only secret because of dumb luck. It was cold, it was dark, he was wearing a hoodie and didn't stick around to answer the cops. In fact he was mildly curious how Nightwing even found him, or if he had. The invite had been issued to 'Star' not to Micheal Lee and it hadn't been at his home, it had been on a rooftop after he'd finished with a fight. Still it seemed. . .unlikely. According to legend Batman and Nightwing just knew everything.

Still he was flattered, after he'd left the final bus he'd waited until he was alone and and used his ninja tricks to make his way up the side of a building leaping from roof top to roof top until he arrived at the plant. He waited for a moment scoping it out.

The idea that this could be some kind of trap passed through his mind and was only dismissed when he reminded himself that he was a nobody. A trap for him would probably consist of something simple, like randomly throwing bricks through windows until he showed up. Not luring him over a hundred miles away to an abandoned location.

Satisfied he made his way to the entrance that had been designated. "Star, checking in."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Steel. Driving.

It wasn't as fancy-schmancy as a high-tech streethawk motorcycle.

But with this U-Haul limping the last leg of a cross-country drive, as with so many things in life, it was what was inside that counted.

Natasha Irons had swept the rented truck for GPS and LoJack when she'd gotten the thing, but U-Haul charged these things by the odometer and sometimes you were lucky to get all the seats. It was about as unlikely a thing to be tracked to a secret HQ as a single pigeon would be through Centennial Park.

All the same, she killed the headlights about a hundred yards before she pulled up to the gate where Michael Lee waited to be let in.

Winding down the window, she arched an eyebrow at the young man.

"Hey there," she gave him a chin-up nod. "Think there's a working bathroom in this place? I've been driving for hours and that last Monster Java's not doing me any favors."

Then she turned her attention to the camera. "Hey, it's Steel. I'm on the list, my plus-one's in the back."

 

[Remec]

Beast Boy

It wasn't as if he had intended to give in to the urge to look for the easy way of things, but when Gar Logan has seen the U-Haul slow up at that crossroads, he figured it couldn't hurt to shorten at least some of the trip to Nightwing's new secret headquarters. He had aches in pretty much all of his muscles from making the trip out here from the nearest big city. And he had muscles that most people didn't have to worry about.

One quick shift and a bright green jack rabbit sprinted the short distance to the vehicle and hopped onto the bumper where it dissolved into an emerald cockroach and settled down in a groove at the base of the truck's pull-down door. The ride had been bumpy, but not overly so, and Gar smirked at his luck as they pulled up outside what could only have been the entrance to the compound he had been told the meeting was to be held at.

One jade garter snake slithered onto the roadway and made its way to the shoulder and into the long grass there. He slipped through the blades and raised himself up as a small green bear on the far side of the U-Haul opposite where the main camera was. Gar smiled and waved a large paw towards both the lens as well as the driver and the guy outside the gate.

"Mmm...Monster would hit the spot. Been a long trek out here, y'know? Why do secret meetings always seem to be conducted out in the boonies? I mean, like, there aren't any secret places downtown or in the business district or the local college campus?"

He shrugged to himself and dropped the rhetorical barrage, then added, "So, what's our entry protocol here?" Gar became an over-sized verdant timber wolf. "Or do I need to huff and puff and all that jazz?" he added with a giggle.

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Bet your last red cent on me."

One jade garter snake slithered onto the roadway and made its way to the shoulder and into the long grass there. He slipped through the blades and raised himself up as a small green bear on the far side of the U-Haul opposite where the main camera was. Gar smiled and waved a large paw towards both the lens as well as the driver and the guy outside the gate.

"Mmm...Monster would hit the spot. Been a long trek out here, y'know? Why do secret meetings always seem to be conducted out in the boonies? I mean, like, there aren't any secret places downtown or in the business district or the local college campus?"

Nat squinted at the green changeling. "I've got a better question: how long were you hitching a ride on my trailer-hitch? Because you're paying a share of this rental with me. Nobody rides for free, Greengenes. Gas, ass, or grass, and I don't smoke and I don't kiss on the first date, so that only leaves you with one option."

He shrugged to himself and dropped the rhetorical barrage, then added, "So, what's our entry protocol here?" Gar became an over-sized verdant timber wolf. "Or do I need to huff and puff and all that jazz?" he added with a giggle.

One hand still on her steering wheel, leaning her head back against the headrest, Natasha drawled, "I got the impression we were supposed to introduce ourselves to the camera? Which I guess you did as, what's-his-name, Yogi's little sidekick. Though the wolf thing might be better, considering who invited us here-- I hear he's got mixed feelings about people who wear red hoods."

 

[Sean Renaud]

Micheal 'Star' Lee glanced back at the beautiful woman driving the U-Haul and offered a smile and a shrug to her question. "I can only assume he doesn't want us running out everytime someone needs to go." He replied not really sure if she was joking and if she was he wasn't sure at all what the proper response was.

She was the looker though even though he could only see her from the waist up. He probably would have gotten into trouble for staring if it hadn't been for the bright green shapeshifter and there quick bit of banter.

That was freaky enough to take his attention completely off the lady and the truck. The weirdest thing he'd seen in person so far was a guy who could shoot little energy bolts from his hands, that was nothing like. . .what was this?!

Star subconsciously took a half step back from the talking green wolf and towards the plant. He was still fairly certain that he was safe, if a lot more exposed than he'd planned on being but on a scale of chat to run he was still on the talkative end of things. "Okay, the Big Bad Wolf is bright green? And this is my first meeting, I assumed they were all out in the boonies." He shrugged. "It would be easier if we just opened a mansion right outside New York or built a tower right in the heart of it."

 

[The Jeffinator]

Dick turned away from Artemis as he detected motion on the screen. Before he knew it, three people appeared outside the gate. He activated a camera and his face appeared on the gate control panel's screen.

"Right on time. If you would each stand in front of the panel, I'll do a quick DNA scan and register you in the system.... Okay... Here we go.... Star, you are T-03. Steel, T-04. Beast Boy, T-05. The gate will now permit you to access. Go around the main office building to the loading docks."

Twenty minutes later...

With everyone gathered, Dick began to explain the mission, referencing satellite maps on the screen. "This is a top secret government facility out in the Mojave Desert -- and we're going to infiltrate it." Dick smirked at the confused faces of his guests.

"For months now," he continued, "I've been working to get this new drug called Vertigo off the streets. I traced it to a drug lord calling himself the Count, but the guy is a joke -- he's only a pawn in a much bigger game. Thanks to a few strategically-placed GPS trackers and microphones, I traced the drug to this complex. It would appear the Vertigo is manufactured in there and then delivered to the Count to be sold on the streets. A government-funded drug lab. Based on the size of this complex, they are doing a lot more than just cooking batches of Vertigo -- and we need to find out what."

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Just as pretty as she could be."

Star subconsciously took a half step back from the talking green wolf and towards the plant. He was still fairly certain that he was safe, if a lot more exposed than he'd planned on being but on a scale of chat to run he was still on the talkative end of things. "Okay, the Big Bad Wolf is bright green? And this is my first meeting, I assumed they were all out in the boonies." He shrugged. "It would be easier if we just opened a mansion right outside New York or built a tower right in the heart of it."

Nat smirked sardonically at Star.

"Y'know, if the color people are on the outside is a problem for you, you and me might have to have words later."

"But no, they're not all out in the boonies. I don't see why the mansion can't be in the middle of the city, either-- like right on Fifth Avenue, across from the park? But the tower sounds catchy. Maybe put it on an island in the middle of the river..."

"Right on time. If you would each stand in front of the panel, I'll do a quick DNA scan and register you in the system.... Okay... Here we go.... Star, you are T-03. Steel, T-04. Beast Boy, T-05. The gate will now permit you to access. Go around the main office building to the loading docks."

"Ah, damn," Nat grunted, climbing down from the cab of the U-Haul, perhaps presenting Star with that full sweet view he'd been wondering about, "I missed getting a prime number by that much."

"If you guys wanna hop on with me, I can drive y'all the rest of the way. I promise not to charge an arm or a leg. Or a tail. Or a tentacle."

Twenty minutes later...

With everyone gathered, Dick began to explain the mission, referencing satellite maps on the screen. "This is a top secret government facility out in the Navajo Desert -- and we're going to infiltrate it." Dick smirked at the confused faces of his guests.

"For months now," he continued, "I've been working to get this new drug called Vertigo off the streets. I traced it to a drug lord calling himself the Count, but the guy is a joke -- he's only a pawn in a much bigger game. Thanks to a few strategically-placed GPS trackers and microphones, I traced the drug to this complex. It would appear the Vertigo is manufactured in there and then delivered to the Count to be sold on the streets. A government-funded drug lab. Based on the size of this complex, they are doing a lot more than just cooking batches of Vertigo -- and we need to find out what."

"Jesus," Natasha frowned, hugging herself lightly. "Drugs made by the government-- this is like that conspiracy theory that crack was invented by The CIA. It's enough to give you chills."

She squinted. "Infiltration, though. I'm not exactly a stealth specialist, Nightwing. Unless I'm just here to make your OpTech? One woman Toys'R'Us."

 

[Nubian_Legend]

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Who I'm with: Self
What I'm doing?: Video Conferencing with a client
Where am I?: A league under Star City's bayside. Aboard his personal submarine vessel.
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The young atlantean commander was doing a bit of extracurricular reading in his chambers, nothing all too engrossing or labyrinthe in composition, just something to keep his mind engaged at these depths inbetween downtimes and such, his favorites were books written by or about historical figures. Men like Vlad III, Ghengis and Zulu occupied much of his time submerged. This particular manual he'd been reading was written by a 17th century samurai and eventually translated for international audiences , renown for his exploits in the art of sword duels and tactics. Having won a fair share of duels against the pre-eminent swordsmen of his day by remarkable sometimes farfetched means and establishing his own fencing form. Kaldur'ahm's bright colored orbs tracked through the clusters of text with steadfast efficiency until he heard a wrapping at his chamber door , followed by a voice from one of his manta troopers.
"He cheated. " Kaldur exclaimed aloofly.
He pressed the book down upon itself, giving his soldier his undivided attention to address him with.
"Sir. A man by the name of Antonio Diego - Bane is on the line to speak to you in private."

"Bring him up on screen then"

http://www.legionsofgotham.org/Cartoons/YJ/YJbiosBane.jpg​

He was screen-to-screen with his enigmatic client. The don from Santa Prisca. Mr. Diego himself. He exchanged formalities with the man before going into the specifics of their conference. "Let's dispense with pleasantries and get to the business at hand, shall we?"

"I take it you have something you need procured by my maritime services? "

"Yes. I have a backlog of a certain product that I need delivered to a destination not too far from the coasts. Star City? Ever heard of it? You're not too far from there right now but the product is in Santa Prisca. I hear you're the best at what you do that's why I'm consulting you and not Fed-Ex. "

Kaldur'ahm merely chuckled at the mans jest, keeping up his characteristic pokerface. "Yes, I'm familiar with Star City. I suppose I can fulfill your libertine request. So long as I get what I'm due in the time that's it's due, we can negotiate any miscellaneous specifics. I must inform you that my flat fee is 12% of the value of the product being shipped. Of course, I am not responsible for whatever happens after it's been successful couried to point A to B. We can work out the logistics so long as I'm told where to go and who to meet. I prefer not to keep a paper trail"

 

[Sean Renaud]

Star raised a brow and shook his head. "Normally I'd say something about how I'm not racist, but yeah, being Green is a bit of an issue. Not something I can't get past. but. . .damn that's freaky." He replied before.

Once they were inside.

"Yeah, I've seen that drug. Messes people up pretty nasty. Honesty I don't normally bother dealers. Don't much mind what people do to themselves but this stuff. . . it ain't right."

 

[Lily_Wight]

During the briefing Tirgress stays quiet, making sure the others think she supports Nightwing completely. Looking at the group he's assembled is giving her second thoughts, though.

After the briefing, Tigress finds a moment alone with Nightwing.

"Are you sure you want to bring these people into a crusade against Cadmus?" she looks around again to make sure no one is in earshot.

"I understand, this job is too big for the two of us. I do, but these kids are green. One literally. We might not all make it through this alive."

 

[ChasNicollette]

"A man, he ain't nothin' but a man."

After the meeting, as Tigress and Nightwing were having their conference, Natasha kept herself busy.

It had been fortuitous that their entrance had been via the loading docks of this old place-- Natasha had been able to rumble a forklift right up to her U-Haul box-truck and bring out the storage pod she'd brought inside.

She'd told the camera at the front gate that her "plus-one" was in the back-- she hadn't meant Beast Boy at that point, she hadn't yet known he was there. She had been talking about her Steel armor, resting in its solar-charging chrysalis. Along with that armor and its chrysalis was as much equipment as she could bring along to maintain her suit and develop other new technologies-- as well as that legendary kinetic hammer born to fit in that armor's gauntleted hand.

Ordinarily, an unaided baseline human would be unable to lift that hammer, but as Natasha grasped the handle she was able to use her technopathy to gently whisper to the hammer, ask its electrogravitic inertial systems to lift with her.

And thus she stood there, gazing reverently and affectionately at the hammer's head. "Heya, Lucy," she murmured. "You ready to get all dressed up and go someplace fun?"

 

[Tight_n_ready]

Please Uncle J’onn, you know I just want to help, and they know what they’re doing, I won’t get hurt.

I’m not sure M’gann, you aren’t supposed to be here anyway, I’m not sure I can risk you getting into trouble or getting hurt.

I can look after myself Uncle!

J’onn J’orrz sighed, his niece, M’gann, had stowed away in his ship a few months ago, on his last trip to Mars, dreaming of life as a human and saving lives as a super hero. She’d somehow developed an overly romanticised view of how humans lived, probably from watching old human TV shows, and he was afraid that when she met real life on earth she might get hurt. He couldn’t keep her in his apartment forever though, it was starting to feel very cramped, and M’gann was getting very restless. He couldn’t really blame her, he had kept her cooped up in here since she’d arrived, only letting her out when he was there to accompany her, she’d had little in the way of freedom. And he’d had little in the way of peace, she’d been bothering him about it incessantly.

Very well M’gann, I will vouch for you.

The breath was forced out of him as the excitable Martian girl flung her arms about his waist.

Thank you Uncle J’onn, thank you thank you thank you!


---


A tall woman walked down the street, pausing to watch with interest as a U-haul van passed by and then turned in a little further up the street. It was the same place she was supposed to be going, but she stayed back as a conversation began outside the warehouse. It wasn’t long however, before they all went in, and she walked up to the door they had just disappeared through. She ducked into a dark corner and shifted her atoms once more, now appearing much younger, her hair changed colour and she was now eight inches shorter.

She stepped up to the gate, “ummm, hi, I’m Megan, my Uncle John said to meet you here?”

 

[ChasNicollette]

"What is that storm I hear?"

Star raised a brow and shook his head. "Normally I'd say something about how I'm not racist, but yeah, being Green is a bit of an issue. Not something I can't get past. but. . .damn that's freaky." He replied.

"Yeah," Natasha chuckled with a wry grin. "I kinda figured, but doesn't mean I'm not gonna give you crap for it."

"We had a purple kid in my class named Rudy, so I've had to update my epidermal spectrum a little."

********​

Once everyone had entered the complex at Nightwing's bidding, there was a brief delay of game while Nightwing introduced the latest lady to arrive-- someone named "Megan," who, apparently, had an Uncle John also.

"Uh, hey," Nat waved to the small gathering. "Natasha Irons. I'm the new Steel."

She hesitated. "That still sounds weird coming out of my mouth, even though I've been pushing for it for ages-- uh--"

"Who are you guys? I mean, I'm pretty sure I saw the green guy on the TV before, but yeah."

 

[Remec]

"Who are you guys? I mean, I'm pretty sure I saw the green guy on the TV before, but yeah."

Gar grinned and giggled to himself. Booyah...someone remembers! I knew I had fans out there somewhere. He became himself and used both hands to brush lint from his costume and smooth out any wrinkles. "Yeah," he admitted, "that was me. For a while, I wanted to go into show business, my adoptive parents were involved in it. Rita Farr? Anyone? But the show was a campy rip-off that didn't really last all that long, and I decided to put my powers and the training I got from the other members of the Doom Patrol to better use. But it's hard to get respect from thugs and the like when they've seen you on late night sci-fi binges."

He gave a shrug and shrank down to an enormous frog. "You know what they say, right? It's ain't easy." He paused just long enough for anyone to laugh or, more likely, groan at the reference, then added, "I sometimes was called Changeling, but most people know me as Beast Boy. I still answer to Gar, though. I've never had a secret identity, just am who I am."

Gar hopped across the room in a great leap and landed next to Natasha where he became a bright green tabby cat at her feet. "Well, I am whatever I feel like being, that is."

 

[Sean Renaud]

"Never had a purple kid before." Star replied. "Dealt with lots of shades of brown and funny eyes but green? Gimme a moment." He turned towards Beast Boy. "Don't think I have anything against you, I don't. . . well you're an alien or something right? I don't hate you I'm just. . .you're green!

 

[The Jeffinator]

Twenty minutes earlier...

“Thanks for coming, Megan,” Nightwing said as the Martian girl arrived. He scanned her into the system as well. “Okay, your designation is T-06. Come on in and join the others.”

Now...

Nightwing continued on with the briefing. “I know infiltrating a government complex may seem entirely too risky, but I have a plan. We will--” he looked down and signed as his phone kept buzzing. “What does he want?” he said to himself quietly.

“Sorry, I need to take this,” Nightwing apologized to the group. “I'll be right back.” He vanished outside for a moment and leaned against the wall, sighing and answering the call.

“Are you stupid? Or just crazy?” the voice of Bruce Wayne said over the phone before Dick even said hello. He rolled his eyes.

“What do you want, Bruce?” he asked angrily. “I'm assuming J'onn narked me out?”

“You're damn right he did,” Batman replied. “He's terrified something bad is going to happen to his niece. How the hell did you ever convince him to let you take her on a mission to break into a government facility – I don't know why I even asked that. You were trained by me.”

“Look, Bruce,” Dick began, “This mission is happening. We need to get Vertigo off the street and find out what else they are doing at Cadmus. This is a mission the League can't be a part of without risking your U.N. charter. We're doing this independently. And I need everyone here for this to succeed – especially Megan.”

“Have you considered what's at stake if you fail?”

“You know I have,” replied Dick. “The risk is worth it. There is something big here – I can feel it.”

“Just don't let your obsession with justice bring death to your new team,” said Bruce. Dick scoffed.

“You're one to talk about obsession,” he replied. “You know me well enough to know I will make sure each and every one of them knows exactly what they are signing up for, and if they want out, I will let them walk. But I doubt they will.”

Five minutes later...

“Sorry about that, guys,” Nightwing said as he re-entered the warehouse. He walked over and continued the briefing. “We will be infiltrating the complex tomorrow evening. Every other Friday, the Count and a few of his men take a ride out into the Mojave Desert and meet with their contacts on the edge of the R-2508 Special Use Airspace Complex. But this time, Megan here is going to convince the Count that we are his men. I have covered my tracks well, and so far, the Count has no idea I've been investigating him. The GPS device I attached to his van this last time was equipped with a second device attached to a small spider robot. Using it's camera, I remote-controlled it to run over and attach itself to the underside of the officers' vehicle, which is what led me to Project Cadmus, which is what the officers referred to the facility as in the audio clips from the bug.”

Dick smiled at Megan. “This mission would be much more difficult if we didn't have you. Do you think you can do this? Trick the Count into thinking we are his associates? That's only the first part, though. Once we meet up with the officers, we need to be inside their vehicle when they return to Cadmus without them knowing we are there. We'll also need to knock the Count out so that his van will still be there for our extraction. Are you able to psychically hypnotize them and anyone we encounter at the gate to think we are invisible? We just need to get inside the facility – once we leave the vehicle, you won't need to shield us anymore. As soon as we get past the gate, we need to hack into the security system and deactivate the cameras and motion detectors, as well as any incoming or outgoing communications – Natasha, that's where you come in. If we can get a schematic for the inside of the facility, that will help immensely.

“Their most precious data is not going to be accessible wirelessly, so we'll need to find their offline server hub, jack in, and download as much information as we can. The primary goal is to find and destroy the lab they create the Vertigo in, as well as collect as much data as possible to use against them once we get back out. If my suspicions are correct and they are involved in other illegal operations, we'll need as much evidence as possible to bring them down.

“The League can't do this because, if they got caught before securing enough evidence, they would lose their U.N. charter and face a federal prison sentence. We are not members of the League, but that doesn't mean the risk is any less severe. If the plan fails and we are captured, we would be branded as terrorists. They may send us away to rot in prison or they may just execute us at Cadmus. If the plan fails and we escape, we would still be branded as terrorists and would have to look over our shoulders for the rest of our lives. Those of us with secret identities would have to retire our current crime-fighting personas, but that's no guarantee we'd be safe.

“There is a lot at risk here, but is it worth the risk to take down this corrupt military organization? Uniformed men and women who swore an oath to serve the United States, manufacturing and selling drugs that destroy the lives of its citizens? I say it's worth the risk. How many lives will we save if we can get this facility shut down and expose their crimes? I say we can't call ourselves heroes if we don't do this, but each of you has to make that decision for yourself.”

After the briefing, Dick showed them the administrative building next door to the warehouse, where he had turned the offices into bedrooms. “My room is the main office in the back, but there are enough for each of you to have your own room. It's nothing fancy right now, just a twin-sized bed, desk and chair in each room, but if we survive this mission and decide to keep working together as a team, you'll have the chance to make it feel more like home in here.”

After showing Natasha a corner of the warehouse where she could set up a station for repairing and upgrading her armor, Dick found himself outside with Artemis.

"Are you sure you want to bring these people into a crusade against Cadmus?" she looks around again to make sure no one is in earshot.

"I understand, this job is too big for the two of us. I do, but these kids are green. One literally. We might not all make it through this alive."

“They know the risks,” he assured her. “We have to stop Cadmus, and we can't do it without them.”

Dick saw the worry in her eyes and smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You are right to fear for them, Artemis. But they are grown adults. This is their decision. We'll have each others' backs – we're going to make it through. We both should get some rest.”

The next day...

Everything went as planned – well, sort of. They hitched a ride with the Count and then got into the Cadmus facility just fine. Shut down the security systems just fine. Got into the building and down a few levels without any fatalities. That's when things got weird.

“Oh, shit,” said Nightwing as he and the team stared down a corridor at a group of weird-looking mutants. There were about seven of them, and they acted a bit crazed, gnawing and moaning like zombies.

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A man walked up from behind the zombies to face the heroes. “I finally get to test these powers on someone!” he cried with a sinister laugh. He suddenly began yelling and crackling with red energy and his hands morphed into a black material.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/3188609-fma56-301_zpsef95b70e.jpg

His eyes began to glow and his face morphed as well.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/2800893-greed_this_please_manga_anime_desktop_1280x800_hd_wallpaper_661504_zps3dd8810d.png

His fingers grew into sharp claws and he dashed towards the heroes with blinding speed, the zombies right behind him.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/x3Ling-Greedattacks_zps270b5ca6.jpg
(Just pretend the guys in this picture are the Titans, lol)

 

[ChasNicollette]

"I'll die with the hammer in my hand."

"Never had a purple kid before." Star replied.

"He wasn't exactly a shining example of a brand-new slot on humanity's color-wheel," Nat recalled wryly. "Turned out his meta-power was absorbing energy-- kinetic, electromagnetic, even bioelectrochemical and neuropsychic-- and sometimes that meant absorbing people's personality matrices and memory engrams as part of the bargain. He'd absorbed some professorial-type and the guy's voice in his head was how he passed Steelworks' entrance exams. My Uncle John sent him packing to Stryker's Island soon as he found out."

Nat paused, and reflected for a moment. "He was a Purple People-Eater. Huh. I can't believe I never made that reference before."

"Dealt with lots of shades of brown and funny eyes but green? Gimme a moment." He turned towards Beast Boy. "Don't think I have anything against you, I don't. . . well you're an alien or something right? I don't hate you I'm just. . .you're green!

"Ah," Natasha grinned. "Nothin' like the sound of a paradigm shifting without a clutch."

********​

He became himself and used both hands to brush lint from his costume and smooth out any wrinkles. "Yeah," he admitted, "that was me. For a while, I wanted to go into show business, my adoptive parents were involved in it. Rita Farr? Anyone? But the show was a campy rip-off that didn't really last all that long, and I decided to put my powers and the training I got from the other members of the Doom Patrol to better use. But it's hard to get respect from thugs and the like when they've seen you on late night sci-fi binges."

Nat's brow furrowed. She vaguely remembered that "Rita Farr" name. She remembered things like a steel trap ever since she became an actual supergenius-- but sometimes memories from before the meta event got a little fuzzy around the edges. Wasn't she from some sitcom or something?

He gave a shrug and shrank down to an enormous frog. "You know what they say, right? It's ain't easy."

Natasha facepalmed, and shook her head. "Pffft. Okay. I see what you did there, Creature Shop."

He paused just long enough for anyone to laugh or, more likely, groan at the reference, then added, "I sometimes was called Changeling, but most people know me as Beast Boy. I still answer to Gar, though. I've never had a secret identity, just am who I am."

Gar hopped across the room in a great leap and landed next to Natasha where he became a bright green tabby cat at her feet. "Well, I am whatever I feel like being, that is."

"See," Natasha quirked an eyebrow at Tabby!Gar, "irresistible compulsion to scratch you behind the ears, but I dunno if that's the kitty equivalent of kissing on the first date-- how 'bout I use the photon-emitters on my armor as a couple laser-pointers later and we call it even?"

********​

After his call was done, Natasha listened closely but warily to Nightwing's plan. This reliance on telepathic cloaking and mass hypnosis made the back of her neck itch. ESP wasn't her favorite thing in the world, she'd never found it especially reliable-- but that was, of course, hypocritical. Along with the boost to her already-decent intellect, Nat had received a low-level cyberpathic ability to talk to computers and a mechanopsychometry to envision how unfamiliar machines added up to the sum of their parts.

And it was this selfsame psi-wi-fi that made her an asset here.

She should let Megan do her thing-- how would she feel if Megan started hating on Nat's armor-design?

"My suit's A.I. has some pretty hefty IT-infiltration protocols," Natasha nodded. "And my being a machine whisperer'll unlock some doors literal and figurative. Hypothetically, anyway."

Nightwing went on to outline how deep would be the shit they'd be in if they got pinched. And this wasn't a good feeling. She rubbed the back of her neck as it started to straight-up prickle. But-- but this wasn't right. This was 50 Shades of Not Right.

"My own Uncle John's biggest hero besides Superman was John Henry," Natasha mused slowly. "And John Henry was legendary for taking down a machine and dying trying. Well, there ain't no machine like a corrupt military-industrial complex, who am I to do any less?"

********​

After showing Natasha a corner of the warehouse where she could set up a station for repairing and upgrading her armor, Dick found himself outside with Artemis.

After the meeting, as Tigress and Nightwing were having their conference, Natasha kept herself busy.

It had been fortuitous that their entrance had been via the loading docks of this old place-- Natasha had been able to rumble a forklift right up to her U-Haul box-truck and bring out the storage pod she'd brought inside.

She'd told the camera at the front gate that her "plus-one" was in the back-- she hadn't meant Beast Boy at that point, she hadn't yet known he was there. She had been talking about her Steel armor, resting in its solar-charging chrysalis. Along with that armor and its chrysalis was as much equipment as she could bring along to maintain her suit and develop other new technologies-- as well as that legendary kinetic hammer born to fit in that armor's gauntleted hand.

Ordinarily, an unaided baseline human would be unable to lift that hammer, but as Natasha grasped the handle she was able to use her technopathy to gently whisper to the hammer, ask its electrogravitic inertial systems to lift with her.

And thus she stood there, gazing reverently and affectionately at the hammer's head. "Heya, Lucy," she murmured. "You ready to get all dressed up and go someplace fun?"

********​

The next day...

Everything went as planned – well, sort of. They hitched a ride with the Count and then got into the Cadmus facility just fine. Shut down the security systems just fine. Got into the building and down a few levels without any fatalities. That's when things got weird.

“Oh, shit,” said Nightwing as he and the team stared down a corridor at a group of weird-looking mutants. There were about seven of them, and they acted a bit crazed, gnawing and moaning like zombies.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/FullmetalAlchemist-51-Large21_zps21021a1b.jpg

Steel reached for the hammer magnetized to her back, grasped the handle where it had been retracted into its one-handed stand-by mode. Even as she did so, her armor's sensors were working overtime on the Romero rejects.

"I know I said I'd die trying on this thing, Nightwing," she growled in her armor's pitched-down cybernetic voice. "But I refuse to be a minority stereotype in a horror movie."

A man walked up from behind the zombies to face the heroes. “I finally get to test these powers on someone!” he cried with a sinister laugh. He suddenly began yelling and crackling with red energy and his hands morphed into a black material.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/3188609-fma56-301_zpsef95b70e.jpg

His eyes began to glow and his face morphed as well.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/2800893-greed_this_please_manga_anime_desktop_1280x800_hd_wallpaper_661504_zps3dd8810d.png

Squaring her stance, Steel slung her hammer off of her back, extended the handle, shinkshinkshink, and choked up a firm, two-gauntleted grip. "Thaaaaat's probably not good."

His fingers grew into sharp claws and he dashed towards the heroes with blinding speed, the zombies right behind him.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/x3Ling-Greedattacks_zps270b5ca6.jpg

Her Uncle John's natural talent for ballistics had made him a Hell of a ballplayer-- he'd gotten into Yale on a baseball scholarship.

And Uncle John Henry Irons had been Natasha's main instructor as to how to superhero. She was still learning, but she had a mean swing.

That freak came at them with the claws and the eyes and Steel put her hammer to her shoulder and she swung for the bleachers. "Hrrrrrahhh!"

 

[Lily_Wight]

Keep your eye on the ball

At first sign of trouble, Tigress crouched, readying 2 trick arrows. One smoke, and one strobe. She jumped as the guy was morphing, and she barely cleared his path in time. The guy was fast. She figured she'd let the more obvious members deal with the obvious threat, and she focused on the zombies.

The trick arrows loosed as she was upside down, flipping over the metal freak, and she aimed them at the center zombie. They impacted, raising a cloud of smoke and a disorienting strobe light within. Tigress switched to her katana and took one step forward.

That freak came at them with the claws and the eyes and Steel put her hammer to her shoulder and she swung for the bleachers. "Hrrrrrahhh!"

https://38.media.tumblr.com/fc65b707b0c252d35be90a80aa0aab84/tumblr_nad5haKAqt1rb06tgo3_r1_500.gif
The metal attacker hit Tigress in the back like a line drive, the two of them disappearing into the strobing cloud of smoke that still obscured the zombies.

 

[The Jeffinator]

"Greed, you're always so quick to rush in without thinking," came a mocking voice as the smoke cleared, revealing three more arrivals.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/Lust-full-metal-alchemist-28093904-640-480_zps4b18a1dc.jpg

"Shut up, Envy," spat Greed.

"Come on, boys," said the beautiful, dark-haired woman of the group, "Let's focus on the intruders."

"Can I eat them, Lust?" the short fat one asked the woman. "Can I eat all of them?"

"Yes, Gluttony," she responded. "After we kill them."

"Yay!" he exclaimed happily. "I get to eat you all!"

The three of them leapt into battle as well.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/20110924094946Gluttony_is_hungry_zps4c8a2a12.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/Fullmetal-Alchemist-full-metal-alchemist-34416051-1280-800_zps6cc87400.png
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o178/TheJeffinator/luxuriapng_zps3f63b786.jpg

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Hammer's gonna be the death of me."

She swung, and she connected--

KATAANG!

--and Lucy the Hammer rang against Greed's metallic hide like a cannonball fired into a churchbell.

Except maybe it wasn't a cannonball. Maybe it was a bowling ball.

The metal attacker hit Tigress in the back like a line drive, the two of them disappearing into the strobing cloud of smoke that still obscured the zombies.

And she knocked Greed into Tigress and they plowed into the zombie drones like they were the bowling pins.

"Oh," her voice cracked, and even though it didn't sound quite as Orson Welles-as-Unicron, James Earl Jones-as-Darth Vader, Wrath-of-God scary as Uncle John's voice did, it still sounded weird when she said broken-little-girl things in those robotic dubstep tones, "Jesus."

Panic flared in Steel's brain--

--oh God I've killed her--

--some goddamn supergenius I turned out to be--

--fixitfixitfixit--

Initializing her armor's AI fire-control target-assist while simultaneously switching her HUD scanners to infrared so as to see through the smoke, Steel shunkshunkshunked Lucy's handle back down to mallet-length and aimed with her left arm as she held Lucy one-handed in her right-- firing precision targeted sonic concussion-pulses into Greed and the zombies to try and disrupt them, throw them off of Tigress.

Then, with a burst of her back-up electrograv flight system (she was at least smart enough not to fire off her jet boots in a close-tight corridor with all her teammates next to her), Steel flew at the knot of zombies and Greed, hoping to scoop Tigress out of there before she got eaten for breakfast.

That is-- if she wasn't dead already--

--Greed's invulnerability could have diffused some of the amplitude of the hit but still that was a lot of goddamn momentum to conserve into Tigress--

--don't think about it--

--she just swooped and reached and prayed and continued to hope to God that the team could hold off these scary fucking newcomers long enough for Steel to make up for her rookie foul-up.

 

[Remec]

Beast Boy

"See," Natasha quirked an eyebrow at Tabby!Gar, "irresistible compulsion to scratch you behind the ears, but I dunno if that's the kitty equivalent of kissing on the first date-- how 'bout I use the photon-emitters on my armor as a couple laser-pointers later and we call it even?"

Gar feline form broke into a wide grin and he purred while rubbing agiainst Natasha's ankles. "Sounds like a plan," he said, "depending on what our mission turns out to be."

Once they began the debriefing from Nightwing, Gar was a little disappointed he hadn't tried for laser-pointers before the mission. Busting some thugs or muggers, even the occasional grade-D wannabe supervillain, was one thing, but governmental secret bases that were probably manned with trained professional mercenaries and/or soldiers? Well, if Nightwing thinks we can do it, that's good enough for me.

That confidence in his team's leader was still present, if wavering just a tad, once they had managed to infiltrate Cadmus and were confronted by what appeared to be zombie creatures. Gar flitted about the space as a hummingbird while analyzing where he might be able to make a difference or lend a hand.

He hovered here.
He hovered there.

The smoke and the lights were irritating, but also keeping their would-be attackers off balance, so it balanced out. When Steel let loose and slammed the transformed maniac in to Tigress and the bulk of the zombie mob, Gar zipped right along after them and then hung back by the ceiling as the latest trio emerged from the dispersing smoke.

He listened to their talk and shook his little avian head. Is this what bad guys have come to? No showboating or threats or monologues, just straight to murder and cannibalism. Gar flew higher up and over Lust and resisted the urge to go all Tex Avery and drop into a leering wolf form, but he mentally agreed with the choice of name.

Instead, Beast Boy flew away to the far side of the space and then shifted to peregrine falcon and returned at full speed towards Gluttony, dropping down to run into him and becoming an elephant just before impact. The full kinetic energy he'd built up transferred into the slobbering short man and bowled him over, but he was denser than Gar had expected and Beast Boy had to stop for a moment and shake his head clear.

"Okay, need to research different animal for that trick. Maybe one of those mountain goats, that do the head-butting thing.", Gar said as he backed up on defensively from Envy and Lust.

 

[Tight_n_ready]

M’gann, or Megan as she reminded herself, smiled nervously at everyone else as she entered, there were a lot of people there. She had been told there would be a few people, but so far the only time she had been the centre of attention had been when her Uncle had found her in the hold of his ship. They all looked towards her as she entered and she blushed and waved awkwardly. Nervous she may be, but she was equally excited to meet new people, finally. She had been cooped up in her Uncle’s apartment for three months, stuck watching Earth TV, it was fun, but not what she’d come to Earth for.

“Hey, I’m Megan.”

The briefing seemed to go fairly smoothly, although the amount of pressure Nightwing seemed to be applying to her was a little intimidating. She listened carefully, nodding as he talked her through what he needed her to do. It was only a few human minds though.

“Sure I can do that, no problem.”

That garnered a few looks from the others. She face palmed, “hello Megan!”

Her skin shifted and shaded, a distinctive green shade creeping up from her feet and ankles, until her whole form was now tinted much the same as Beast Boy’s was, except for her clothes.

“I’m actually the Manhunter’s niece… So I can do everything he can… well not quite, he’s a bit more practised than I am, so I can’t shift through objects yet like he can, and turning into guys is… difficult…”

---

Surprisingly, entering the facility seemed to go off virtually without a hitch, until the strange white creatures appeared at the end of the corridor. M’gann tried to blank herself and the others from their vision, but before she could react another man had appeared, and his form shifted and changed much like hers had before, though his transformation appeared far more sinister than hers had. And then he hurtled forward, her eyes widened in shock and she backed up, raising a hand to defend herself, until the hammer of Steel swung into her field of view, and the fearsome man was catapulted in the opposite direction.

She was stunned for a moment, as the scene around her devolved into chaos. Smoke was filling the corridor and she struggled to see, she began to float up into the air, trying to get above it, until one of the strange white humanoids leapt from the smoke and fastened its claws around her leg. She cried out and shook it, but the thing was more than secure. It tried to claw higher, and she dropped downwards, fast, crushing the thing into the floor. It screeched and let go, and M’gann flew out of its reach as fast as she could, diverting another inbound creature with a wave of her hand and a blast of telekinetic force.

She looked around to see Beast Boy backing away from two women… wait… one woman and a… teenage boy? Girl?

She swooped over, alighting gently beside her teammate.

“Need some help?”