With all the gathered information the whole team and our newest member went into the Bioship for it to take us to surprisingly Gotham High School again. "Why was this scientist stationed at a school and not some League safehouse." I cursed as I realized I had to go back to a school again twice a week. And as a prior adult that just rankled my thoughts and brought back all the cringe memories of my own high school life.
"Gotham High School is fortified to withstand gang siege and to protect the students in the case of one of Gotham's villains decides to just shoot a few mortars or something at the school for the hell of it," Artemis explained, and when we looked to her, she shrugged. "Hey, tall, scary, and handsome already let the cat out of the bag on me being a Gothamite." She said as she pointed at me.
"Well, thanks for that I guess?" I answered, not knowing how to feel about Artemis's saying I was handsome.
"So how good are you with that bow?" Kid Flash prodded and seeing how the speedster engaged the archer in some banter I saw Miss Martian's captain seat of the ship slide back along the floor until her seat was between me and Conner.
"Hi! I wanted to talk too and not just sit looking out the window with the ship already in autopilot." Megan said sheepishly
Conner didn't seem to mind Megan talking incessantly with him, and honestly, I believed he was much more chill than he was in canon due to my presence being around to give him someone to talk to, and frankly, a rival for him to better himself to one day defeat or something.
So, although he may not completely engage someone avidly in conversation, but he would truly listen to people and not just noncommittally grunt, tuning them out.
Then Miss Martian kind of hesitated as she twirled around one of her shorter locks of red hair and turned from me to Conner on either side of her before she leaned over to Conner and with my enhanced senses, I could hear her whispering to the clone. "After this mission can we go out and get some ice cream or something?"
I didn't know if Conner even understood what dating was, so when he just nodded obviously thinking about his favorite food item so far in Root beer Floats, I did my best to ignore the obviously flirty actions Miss Martian was putting out towards her target.
Thankfully I didn't need to be in that awkward third-wheel situation for long as the fast-cloaked Bioship brought us to a soft landing on the front steps of the high school.
"Alright, team let's get going," I said as I threw off my seatbelt and hurriedly moved away from Megan and Conner not to mention with how Wally was already hitting on Artemis. I just wanted to get out of the damned ship.
It turns out that with Speedy being found out to be a clone and all the drama beforehand being attributed to the clones' actions. The younger members that were friends with Speedy/Red Arrow didn't discriminate or see Artemis as some sort of replacement for Speedy. They just saw her as a hot girl proudly showing off her well-sculpted body in tight yoga clothes...
Which although better for team cohesion did leave with some rather funny moments like when Miss Martian put in the mental link and Robin and Kid Flash began competing for her attentions and she however locked onto me and Conner for our more muscular and mature forms.
Although I wasn't part of the mental link, I could take some ques from the way Robin was trying to walk in front of the team as though leading us, and Kid Flash saying how he knew the school like the back of his hand even though he had never even been here before we dealt with the Amazo android previously.
Finally, I was saved from the simmering to a boil pot of teenage hormones as Black Canary slid out of the shadows of one of the hallways with her arms folded over her chest as she spoke tiredly. "About time you guys got here. I am exhausted and the league of shadows keep sending chaff here to wear me down and it's not like I can leave my VIP to escort the damned killers into a police car." She complained and I saw how truly exhausted she must have been to just burst into complaining in front of the junior league team.
Kaldur then loudly cleared his throat cutting off Canary's complaints as he spoke in his soft even tone. "Black Canary do not worry as we will protect this Shirley Fouquet and the League of Shadows will not harm her. Now allow us to take control of the situation and you can keep some sleep as we can all tell you haven't slept in a couple days from the way your eyes are so puffy."
Black Canary just nodded saying. "Yeah... I'm leaving, just be careful and Miss Fouquet is in this classroom." She warned as she stretched a bit before drooping back into a slouch of exhaustion and then walked past us leaving our team to watch over a scientist in an 'abandoned' school during the night with ninjas probably going to attack us...
'God that sounds like the worst B movie plot.' I thought as I followed my team into the classroom and saw the blond form of Shirley Fouquet hunched over a large military-style laptop before she looked up and saw us.
"Well... Maybe numbers will count for something." She said weakly before she looked back at what she was obviously coding. "Ok look, I am very stressed, as I have possibly the fate of the world hanging on my shoulders in stopping this possible 'gray goo' incident from spiraling out of control."
Then she went on to explain how she was a scientist that was working on a nanomachine system that was capable of remotely breaking into computers and stealing their information with nothing able to stop them as the nanomachines were able to destroy any matter in their way along with being able to reuse matter they broke down to infinitely create more nanomachines.
"So... Why even create such things?" Robin asked dryly as I was thinking about why the League didn't just shut all this crap down.
"They weren't supposed to be used this way! They were created for medical purposes as they could easily get into a human body without causing harm and can easily clear up cholesterol or other build ups. Not to mention in time the nanomachines in time could even theoretically replace human organs!" Shirley said excitedly before she slumped in her seat.
"But now hackers across the world and a damned cabal of ninja's are trying to steal total control from me." She sighed before she smiled weakly. "I just need a couple more hours and I can introduce a robust firewall into the nanomachines network and once that is done, for a long while we won't need to worry about someone remotely controlling them as parts of them already are being used."
Robin then nodded to her words as he was playing with his wrist computer. "Yeah, there is reports of an erratic grey cloud hanging around Starlabs, Wayne Tech, and other places with dangerous technology."
"So just keep those people from me and I can easily solve this as I am already putting the finishing touches on this. Plus, in the worst case even if sets me back a couple years I am fully capable of remotely destroying the nanomachine clouds before they self-propagate into an out-of-control situation." She explained and I guess with her having a solution on hand and no one currently being hurt then it made sense why the League was using her as bait to catch villains and the League of Shadow's assassins.
While the rest of the team were in their mental link and generally being quiet to allow the scientist to work on her project, I had a rather important thought so i moved closer to Robin to ask a question. "Hey Robin, you and Batman get entangled with the League of Shadows quite often. How do you subdue one of the better ninjas or their killers in general?"
Robin's face twitched before he deadpanned. "Typically throwing them off the tops of buildings work pretty well as even those trained freaks can't walk with half their bones broken... But otherwise, don't account for zip ties or anything like that to work as they are well trained to pop their joints out of place so even bending rebar around them for people with super strength doesn't work as Bane can attest."
'Ok so smash them into an unmoving pulp is the plan.' I thought before I went back to sitting beside the classroom's windows in the one of the uncomfortable school seats and kept pinging my Pesquisa to see if I could sense if people were around.
And more than twenty minutes later I twitched as I felt the signature of three others hit my senses. "We got three people incoming." I called as I focused on the three and 'watched' them split up. "They are splitting up." I spoke.
Kaldur hummed and turned to Kid Flash and Robin. "Hold the perimeter and once they engage you two, we will come to help while leaving Lorde and Artemis here to protect Fouquet." He ordered and I realized he was planning on using the villain's disdain of our team members as merely sidekicks to jump them with numbers one by one.
The two heroes nodded leaving, before a couple tense minutes later loud crashing noises rang out with Kaldur Megan and Conner running out of the room to go join the fight as I kept my Pesquisa running to track the third assassin that was winding towards our VIP.
"Oh, wow I didn't expect to see you here?" A sultry voice spoke out and the last assassin came into the classroom.
The last assassin as my damned luck needed was Cheshire, a skilled martial artist woman wearing a Japanese demon mask and a green outfit that covered all of her flesh except for whatever reason leaving a part of her thighs bare that the length of her skirt and high boots didn't reach.
And more importantly she was the sister of Artemis...
Knowing that she could obviously see me with the way she took in my slightly unhuman features I didn't allow the assassin to control the situation and with the signature screech of my Sonida I all but teleported in front of her and surprised the woman with a brutal chest stomp that slammed her through the thick wooden doors of the classroom and denting the lockers on the other side of the hallway with her form.
"Well, that may have broken a rib... So, you supposed to be that super boy scout clone?" She coughed and groggily stood up and got back to her feet.
"No. No, I am not. The league has been watching over Shirley Fouquet for the last couple of days and repelled all your ilk's attempts in killing or controlling her... What gave you fuckwits the balls to try again?" I asked in disdain as I took Robins advice about dealing with these assassins very literally as I made Cheshire scream when I stomped on her right knee making a loud wet crunching noise.
"Lorde stop!" Artemis finally cried out in shock as she saw me basically all but brutalizing her sister.
"I am making sure she can't just run off once this mission is complete... And more importantly remember my ability to see souls and such." I said as I walked away from the shivering form of Cheshire who had gotten back control of the pain, she was in and stood in front of Artemis.
Artemis who seemingly just remembered I 'could' sense bloodline ties between souls staggered and for a moment I saw her hands tighten on her bow that had an arrow primed to be pulled back.
"Seeing as Green Arrow vouched for you, I won't do anything... But I will be enlightening Batman how on your first mission, your League of Shadows sibling managed to arrive where we were within minutes after Black Canary moved our VIP here." I said as honestly with the league actually taking these events in hand in this timeline the League of Shadows shouldn't have gotten the drop on us so quickly.
"I had nothing to do with her being here!" Artemis snarled and I nodded making the archer visibly confused.
"I believe you, honestly I do. But for all I know the Shadows could have messed with your mind or have some kind of tracker in you." I said shrugging before I went back and grabbed the form of Chesire who hissed at the feeling of being dragged across the ground with a very thoroughly wrecked knee.
"Alpha, Vertigo, Shadows cover the sky's Light!" Cheshire yelled out suddenly as I was tying her up with the metal bars of the school chairs making me confused as fuck.
But just as I was about to question what the hell, she was talking about I felt a powerful presence rocketing in our direction from my Pesquisa, so I only was able to push Artemis to the other side of the classroom as I was smashed into by the rocketing form of whoever the hell Cheshire called with that code.
Finally, after I got my balance after being smashed through four classrooms and into the grounds outside as whoever rammed me, literally smashed me through the entire fucking school I looked up and couldn't help but curse. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."
Floating above me imperiously was the dull eyed form of the spandex clad blonde figure I could recognize from the huge bust as either Galatea or Power Girl as they were both sometimes cloned from Superman in some timelines.