A few days ago at an undisclosed location.
"What am I looking at?" Amanda Waller asked her assistant/ second in command. She had been watching and rewinding the video for some hours now. She couldn't believe what she was witnessing.
"That was a fight between the Justice league and an unknown group of meta humans who by our calculations emerged when we detected the energy spike in the port." The general replied. He took the time to compile all the CCTV videos he could access of the fight, including the ones recorded by Lex Luther's satellites. The only copies he couldn't get his hands on were the one from the watchtower since they couldn't exploit the zero day they found in their firewall which had recently been patched up. That made them regret why they took so long to exploit it due to assumptions of being discovered should they use it soon after discovering it.
Waller looked up narrowing her eyes at him, "I'm aware of that. I'm talking about this." She turned the tablet to show him a video of superman fighting the hulk which was in a loop.
"That is yet to be determined Sir." The General replied. Amanda Waller was always referred to as sir since the things she had done for her country is very questionable if she were ever to be held accountable for them. It was the respect and fear that made her to be called Sir, she had balls of steel in terms of courage
"They are not in any database nor is there any trace of them aside from that night. It's as if they started existing at the port." The general continued.
"Have you managed to track them after the port?"
"No, they went off the grid 10 miles from the port. They've been MIA ever since." The general named Ivan responded.
"What does the Justice league know about them?" Waller questioned still looking at the footage. The green humanoid creature was really fascinating and she was already thinking of adding it to Project White, the idea appealing every minute she thought of it.
Ivan looked unsure at his boss because she really didn't like failures or bad news and her temper was worse than Lex Luthor's. Having noticed his hesitation, she looked up at him expecting an answer.
"We don't know Sir." Ivan responded looking her dead in the eyes ready to take whatever punishment was thrown his way. Waller respected the brave and those who gave her results, everyone who is anyone in the weapon and arms industry knew that.
Narrowing her eyes at him, "Explain." Her patience growing thin every second.
"The Justice league discovered our zero day exploit sometime in the last 24 hours and developed a patch for it. We have no access to their files now and our informant can't be activated yet." He replied knowing that she would understand that activating the asset now would only lead to him or her being discovered early thus not utilizing him or her efficiently.
Studying him for a few second longer she turned back to the tablet and continued viewing the footage. "We need to locate these people first before the Justice league. Halt all current operations and divert all resources to locating them. This is to be our top priority." Waller commanded while dismissing him with a wave of her hand. Ivan stood at attention and gave a salute before leaving the office.
Ivan walked the long corridors of their secret base in deep thought and returned to their operation center very furious at how little he had to report to his boss.
"Did you tell her about the hack?" Yvonne, one of the technicians asked him as he entered.
"What do you think!" he ground out. "Report!" He commanded.
"We still haven't determined the source of the hack." Yvonne reported starting to give him the report they had established.
"The amount of data compromised is unknown, this guy knew what he was doing, he bypassed our firewalls in seconds without the system detecting it and if it weren't for our firewalls refortifying every few seconds it would have gone unnoticed." The second tech said.
"How do you know it's a he and not a she!?" Yvonne asked offended at the insinuation.
Tech 2 looked about to retort something sarcastic but thought better of it at the last second, "I'm sorry, I'm still learning the social norms of this place. The intruders knew what they were doing." Tech 2 rectified.
"How do you know they were many and not one person huh!?" Yvonne pressed forward. "Come on.. I-"
"ENOUGH!" Ivan fumed narrowing his eyes at them with a promise to shoot something should he not get answers in the next second.
"It appears that a number of organizations were hacked as well. Our source inside Luthercorp reported that an internal security audit is being carried out and our backdoor to their system was also discovered and patched up. The pentagon databases was also hacked." Yvonne reported.
"What about the Justice league?" Ivan asked looking at the second technician who was busy typing code into the supercomputer.
"We can't confirm that sir." Tech 2 replied bringing up tabs with ACCESS DENIED showing their failure at hacking the leagues databases.
"Project White," Ivan spoke out.
"We are beginning the final stages of its development. The power input was doubled since we detected some kind of resistance the day before.." Yvonne supplied.
"What do you mean resistance?" Ivan asked slightly alarmed. At this rate his boss would flip out really soon if they didn't succeed in something..his boss would know very soon if she didn't already because Amanda Waller knew everything.
"It was unresponsive to the information presented to it." Yvonne replied bringing up the footage for her boss to see.
Gritting his teeth "Tell them to do a trial run again. Should it resist I am to be called in immediately." A setback is the last thing we need right now Ivan thought as he exited the operation center heading to the top side elevators intending to go out and relax in the town grab a beer or two after this stressful day. Every soldier he passed stood and gave a full salute to him before proceeding. One thing Ivan liked about his job was the respect he commanded, after Sir Waller of course.
"Dr. Clooney isn't picking up or responding to his pager." Tech 2 told Yvonne looking unsure. "Somebody has to go down to level 65 and inform him."
Hearing the hesitation in his voice Yvonne looked up from the computer at him. "Why are you looking at me? I ain't going down there." Dr Clooney was a very disturbing man who was known in the scientific world, always involved in an experiment at all times. Amanda Waller often overlooked his experiments and perversions because he always produced results since most of the experiments were always a success after a few trials. She only intervened when the experiments were borderline inhumane or too dangerous for their cause or when the project would gain the leagues attention.
"It's your turn. We flipped on it the last time I went." He pointed out.
"Yeah…Games are for losers. Down you go." She directed her hand movement downwards, "I outrank you." She said smirking.
"I hate my job."Tech 2 mummured while getting up heading for the exit to the corridors.
"No you don't." Yvonne shouted after him laughing. None of them hated their job, the pay was good, okay..too good which made them live extremely comfortable lives outside of work. So for youths like them with no immediate responsibility apart from their parents, this job was like a dream come true.
"Who are you?" Waller asked outloud still looking at the green humanoid creature that was as strong as superman. What would happen if we splice its DNA and merge it with Project White she thought, ideas already forming on how to make it their ultimate weapon.
She was about to put the tablet in the drawer when an encrypted voice call popped up. She tensed. Only one person had access to this phone number. "Good morning Mr. President." She answered. "Yes sir I am aware of it." "No sir,they are not ours." "We are currently tracking them sir." "Yes sir." "I will keep you informed sir." "Thank you sir." The call disconnected. She had just lied her ass off about knowing the whereabouts of the group. "How did he know about this. It's not even been 48hrs." She gritted her teeth knowing one of her employees wasn't as loyal as she thought. "No matter, this will be resolved soon enough." She said standing up and getting out of her office heading to the elevator to go on the lower levels to check up on all the projects they were facilitating while having a million and one thoughts. She tapped her earpiece when getting into the elevator. "What resistance?" "What hack!?" She demanded into the earpiece hitting the emergency stop button of the elevator. Gritting her teeth and immediately activating the elevator again changing the floor destination "What!"
Lexcorp at the top floor
"Excuse me sir, Mr Grodd is on line 3." Came a voice from his office telephone. It was his secretary whom he trusted with some of his secrets which was proven time to time again that she couldn't diverge even with some form of interrogation. One couldn't end up working for him without undergoing tests of his own.
"Tell him I'm not in." He instructed and resumed looking into his computer.
Some shuffling and some light walking could be heard from the other end of the line then the opening and closing of a door.
"He says I am to jump if you don't receive his call in the next 30 seconds." Came her trembling voice. Looking out his massive window he saw Rachel (his secretary) balancing on the edge of the balcony with two phones on ether sides of her ears.
"Not again" he groaned reaching to accept Grodds call. "What do you want. I'm busy!" He demanded into the phone watching his secretary getting down from the edge and back into her office. If it had been any other secretary he would have called Grodd's bluff which usually ended up with a lot of blood spluttering everywhere but Rachel was the most efficient secretary he ever had and he won't waste any time looking for another replacement . Good help is really hard to find nowadays He thought. The office was made up of reinforced glass walls which can become translucent at the touch of a button thus privacy was guaranteed anytime.
"The computer has crashed." Grodd's voice sounded. "I know, I have upgraded the system. Just reboot it. For a man of such intelligence you sure don't seem to use it at times." Lex replied already bored of the conversation.
"I knew that. Bizzaro." Was all Grodd responded. "Aaaahhhhh!" Lex banged the desk a couple of times with the phone out of frustration.
"Do you idiots know how much one of those computers cost!? Let alone getting one!" He demanded throwing out a string of curses while Grodd waited patiently for him to vent out his anger which was by now a common occurrence for the two of them during most of their meetings and calls.
"Can you get it or not. Bizzaro wants to willingly get one by himself." Grodd added already knowing how to deal with Luther for now.
"I'll take care of it." Lex told Grodd rubbing his forehead out of frustration. At this rate, his many projects would run him out of money by the time he was through with them.
"Good" Grodd acknowledged. "Oh and Luther…the next time you insult my intelligence will be the last time you won't need any help going to the lavatory." He hang up before Luthor could respond.
Stupid fool. It's only a matter of time before I wont need you and those lowlife criminals he thought.
"Rachel, why don't you come in for a moment." He called into the telephone.
She walked in coming to stand in front of her boss. "Yes, Sir. What can I do for you?" She asked looking down feeling disappointed in herself.
"Where is the bracelet I gave you?" Lex asked giving her a once over look. She was really easy in the eyes but Luthor believed the saying that went by don't shit where you eat and that's why he kept their relationship purely professional because once feelings are involved then everything always gets fucked up.
"A pickpocket snatched it in the train today." She confessed feeling terrible for having lost her boss's present, who in-turn looked at her slightly confused.
"What were you doing in a train?" he asked his face cringing at the mention of train and the thought of how contested they usually were.
"My car had a flat tire yesterday evening and triple A couldn't send a guy immediately." She answered smacking herself mentally for not noticing the obvious signs.
"Don't you have another one?" Lex asked incredulously.
"No I don't, but I'm saving to get another one sir." He looked at her again, narrowing his eyes making her to increasingly become afraid for her job.
"What do you do with the money I pay you if you can't buy a decent car?" He inquired suddenly suspicious. Any sign of a person having an offshore account was cause for alarms.
Taken aback by his question and tone of voice she replied warily, "I pay for the lease on my apartment, buy utilities, groceries-"
"I know all that but what about the remaining.." He cut himself short. "How much do I pay you?" He asked her suddenly.
"Uuuhmmmm…20,000$ per month…" Rachel answered unsure if her boss was alright or Grodd had messed with his mind. She always assumed he knew her salary, he was her boss after all.
"What! My suit costs more than that. Since when?" He asked amazed at how she survives on so little. That's why it was so easy for Grodd to get to her. He thought.
"Since I started working for Lex Corp sir." She stated. Lex typed into his computer and studied the information brought forward to him. A list of all Lex Corp employees and all their details and their pay grades.
He opened his cheque book and wrote down a number before tearing it out and handing it to her. "This will be your new salary as from today. Start by getting yourself some decent cars. Not this train nonsense again." He instructed her.
Rachel was still looking at the paper she was holding amazed at how many zeros she was seeing. "Tha- thank you sir" she stammered still looking at the cheque.
"No need, hard work should be recognized. You have the day off. Get your affairs in order. Then go to a store at the corner of the Daily Planet street called You Need It, Halla and ask for Peter. Describe your necklace to him. Tell him I sent you." He instructed to Rachel who was leaning on his every word, only moments ago she thought she would be fired.
"Thank you sir" she replied sincerely then walked out of the office.
"Now let's see what we have here" he spoke out loud to himself while reopening the video he had been watching before being interrupted. He watched the avengers and the Justice league fight, specifically two people, the guy in the red mechanical combat body armor (iron man) and the green humanoid monster (the hulk) going blow to blow with superman, a thing only Bizzaro, Hyperion, and Grundy could ever manage. I have to buy the research facility that invented that suit and soon before that Wayne tech billionaire gets his hands on it. He thought. In the whole world, only Bruce Wayne had the fortune to outbid him for anything.
Earlier he had attempted to trace the hack or get the hackers signature but it was a dead end which led him to believe one of two people hacked him and the other organizations, either the Justice league or Amanda Waller.
"Interesting.." he continued to watch already coming up with various plans in his head.
Currently at the watchtower
The Question was sitting in front of the monitor rifling through the many documents and pictures he had infront of him while also viewing the fight video and scanning the frequencies incase there was any emergency the league needed to be informed about. He was on monitor duty that week which he preferred doing alone since he had told his superiors that having a partner would only slow him down.
He was reading up on all the conspiracies the people came up with concerning their new arrivals while also hacking this and that databases to retrieve the Intel he needed. That was why he loved monitor duty, most organizations used systems that dwarfed to that of the watchtower so it was a gold mine to someone like him, those who generally loved information.
"Interesting" he voiced while reading an article by Lois Lane about the night in question and the league members responses after that, suspecting that she most likely knew or got intricate details which she did not include in the article probably from their mutual friend.
The Question was the only member aside from the original founding members who knew the identities of most of the members in the leagues roaster. He knew of the relationship between superman and Lois Lane which he had predicted would happen way before the league had been formed.
"Supergirl to watchtower." A transmission came through the monitor breaking Questions concentration and thought process.
"Reading you loud and clear" he responded already activating the teleporter for transport.
"We request teleportation up to the tower." Came supergirl's voice. Normally she would just fly up to the tower enjoying the view but in this particular mission she was assigned with the Huntress who was not blessed with the ability of flight much less could survive in space.
"Request granted" the Question responded and then teleported them in. After hearing the teleporter power up and down he continued with his own research in important matters.
Supergirl and the Huntress teleported in ready to write their reports of the mission and then call it a night. The mission was in a Mediterranean island where a dormant volcano that was usually a tourist site became active destroying a couple of properties along its wake before it was stopped. So they were both beat.
"Oh No! I totally forgot about today's meeting!" Supergirl whispered to Huntress when she saw the small but many gatherings of super hero groups seemingly very engrossed in discussion.
"What meeting?" Huntress asked confused before pulling up her phone to confirm the dates and events of the league activities.
Peeking at her phone over her shoulder, "I thought there was a meeting" she told her while gesturing at the crowd gathered around them.
"Not one that I'm aware of..the next meeting is on a Thursday the following week. Let's ask someone." Huntress suggested with them being part timers and only getting called in when the workload defeats the workforce. Supergirl still dealing with school and Huntress was a lone vigilante fighting crimes as per her own rules.
Scanning the hall room they saw and went to vixen, zatana and black canary who were secluded in a corner away from the others who seemed to be avoiding them.
"What's going on?" Supergirl asked coming to a stop first then Huntress.
"Why are there so many people moving about? Is this an emergency meeting? Is there an emergency?" Huntress asked worriedly. If it was indeed an emergency then why did she or Kara not have any information about it.
In her case, she knew she didn't have high ranking connections among the league members but surely superman would have warned his cousin incase there was an emergency meeting. Being a vigilante was the most important part of Huntress life.
The three heroines looked at her incredulously. "Haven't you heard?" Vixen asked them. The confused looks on both supergirl and Huntress faces prompted her to explain.
"The unknown group is here. One of the heroes saw them enter the conference room with the founding leaguers. We're all waiting to see them or help if it's needed."
"They are not dangerous." Zatana blurted out with a roll of her eyes. "They would be in the holding cells instead of the conference room if they were a threat."
"I agree but it never hurts to be cautious. Have any of you seen the footage of the fight?" Supergirl couldn't help but agree with both of them.
"We all have." Black canary answered. "I can't believe superman was knocked out…no offense Supergirl." She quickly added.
"Non taken. I was quite shocked. I didn't know our bones could be broken by anything on this earth." Supergirl replied. Makes me question everything I know about my strengths and weaknesses. Supergirl finished with a thought.
"Does Batman know of this little gathering? Huntress asked knowing Batman would never condone this.
"Yes he does, most of us have returned from our missions and are waiting to give our reports." Black canary smiled mischievously. They were all curious about the unknown group and it seemed most of them were willing to confront Batman if it meant they satisfied their curiosity.
"What do you think they're discussing in there?" Huntress asked deciding to direct the line of questioning to more informative ones.
The other superheroes gathered around had noticed Supergirls arrival with confused glances. They had assumed with her being Supermans cousin and one of the most powerful people in the league she would be in the meeting or atleast involved in whatever was going on but by the confused looks she gave told them otherwise. Most of the superheroes wished they could join the group of beautiful yet deadly female heroines in discussing the present matter but none of them really interacted with the ladies since they were not in the Justice Leagues list of either permanent or temporary members which lead to being in the watchtower a rare occasion.
"Maybe they want to join the league?" Asked a hopeful Supergirl who in her view saw the opportunity to avoid the another fight.
Zatana shaking her head at Supergirl "Seriously?" but only got a shrug as response.
"Did you watch the same video we did?" Vixen asked arching one eyebrow at Supergirl.
"It is not impossible for it to happen." Huntress attempted to defend her teammate.
"It was just a suggestion, no need to hang a girl for one!" Supergirl defended herself raising her arms up in surrender.
"Well I would love to have a crack at them if they are against us." Black canary smirked while massaging her throat, her weapon.
"As much as I would like to witness that, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer for it to happen." Batmans voice came from their side startling them.
"I didn't see you there." Black canary smiled mischievously at Batman who just smirked and looked to the upper level balcony where superman came to a stop with the Avengers in tow.