They had then flown into the watchtower intending to grab something to eat but stumbled upon Thor whom had started up a conversation with them asking about their travels.
He and Hal Intended to give their report during this emergency meeting superman had called. Turning to see whoever Thor was waving at he was met with the group of heroines all looking at them probably Thor and Hal he thought. He found himself head towards them with Hal muttering something along the lines of Hurry Up!
"Why'd your friend stay back?" Zee asked with a pout.
"Who? Hal?" Ben asked innocently smiling "He's heading into a meeting right now.. But I can call him back if you want…"
Zatanas expression changed "not him..just forget it. What do you want!?" She demanded trying to change the subject.
"I just wanted to greet you all and the guest." He said suddenly shy infront of these ladies gazes therefore choosing to switch between Kara and the new girl.
"Oh" Cate exclaimed at the sudden shift of attention.
"I'm Cate, princess of Themyscira" she introduced herself.
Bens eye brow scrunched up in thought "I thought that…"
"Yes, meet her sister." Kara completed his thought process. Why did everyone have a hard time believing Diana had a sister.
"Ben. It's nice to meet you" he waved at her noticing her intense gaze on him.
"I heard you saved Almerac." Huntress stated impatient to know what happened.
"Yeah…we stopped to help but they pretty much thwarted the invasion by themselves. Especially their queen" Ben couldn't help but add that statement and everyone perking up at the mention of the Queen. "She's a good fighter."
"Among many other things" zee mumbled.
"Excuse me?" Ben hadn't heard her clearly.
"Don't mind them. They're just sulking because Thor didn't come over." Kara tried explaining.
"Well, I better get going." Ben felt he couldn't stand the pressure from their gazes and started fidgeting where he stood beside a seated Zee. Gwen would never let him hear the end of this if she were here.
He abandoned his earlier plan when he spotted them and decided to abandon ship.
"Ladies." He gave a small bow to know one in particular and turned to leave.
"If only he was a few years older." Huntress commented after Ben walked away and most of the ladies agreeing with suggestive looks.
"What'd he want anyway?" Zee couldn't help but ask since he didn't answer all their questions.
"To welcome Cate to the watchtower." Shayera spoke up for Ben and Kara showing her agreement by nodding.
Cate watched Kara steal glances to look at Ben throughout his short time with them. She actually thought she saw Ben one time looking at her. She couldn't help but think how Ben who looked like a normal teenage boy was able to fight against that monstrous creature doomsday since she knew he was just a shapeshifter.
Sector 13121
Thanos inspected the damage done to the ship undergoing repairs. Nothing could be salvaged from the destroyed engines since whatever could not melt from the intense heat subjected to it was simply crushed by hand according to reports from The Maw who had personally witnessed the intruders various gifts while he fought to defend the ship. The few internal cameras that managed to capture him concurred with what the maw reported just like what Nebula and Gamora reported about the planet.
"She was stronger than the man." Gamora insisted to the Maw. "She destroyed that vessel in a few minutes" he had this idea that the queen proved to be far more resilient than the guy.
"No matter." The maw dismissed. "Given enough time I would have taken care of them myself." He declared vengeful thoughts swirling in his mind. He heard disbelieving scoffs come from the sisters but assumed them and concentrated on their father.
"The natives of the planet presented a challenge during the invasion sire. Each seemed to posses a certain degree of enhanced strength with abilities varying with the individual." Gamora spoke up starting a conversation no one wanted to touch. Their defeat.
"This universe is more evolved than ours and we will need to conduct research on every planet we intend to add to our campaign." Thanos stated. "This person who was with the lantern. Is he from that planet?" He inquired while The others relaxed their postures. Their father understood.
"I assumed him to be the king but according to reports Nebula dug up during our journey back, that planet is ruled by the queen and is one of the most respected planets in the universe." Gamora answered. They made sure to do extensive research on the first planet to deny them victory in this universe.
"Their extra ordinary super strength and advanced technology gives its army an advantage over many others" Nebula projected images from her left eye then added "the onboard network was temporarily hacked and some data compromised before I was able to kick them out."
She was currently carrying out a full diagnostics to determine what information was compromised and by who because whoever it was obliterated their ships firewall not caring about being discreet.
"What?" The Maw started getting angry. "You let the woman access our database!?"
Thanos had since stopped whatever he was doing and looked waiting for an explanation why they did not use their various protocols incase of such a breach.
"This was the ship that was actually hacked" nebula gestured to the ship and projecting a footage of the intruder moving at inhuman speeds locating the engines.
"That's how he was able to efficiently locate the engines" The Maw deflated at something occurring under his watch. What good is my telepathy to father if I couldn't figure that out myself he lamented.
"What did they take?" Thanos spoke up. This was the first time someone did such damage to one of their ships.
"Nothing of consequence father just The ships details and some files stored on board. They did not manage to access our main server." Nebula explained.
She had been notified of the hack after the intruder finished cracking through their firewalls and managed to kick him out after some minutes but that was all it took for him to retrieve some files.
"I want you to research on this universes strongest metals and weapons that can be used to modify our ships." Thanos commanded her daughter Nebula who bowed and walked out leaving Gamora and The Maw.
"I need you two to look into the anti life equation discreetly." He ordered them and they departed. "Everyone will be on guard after this"
Thanos was sure every would be conqueror of this universe had probably witnessed their failed attempt at invading Almerac and that put them at a disadvantage for he wanted to announce his campaign by capturing a green lantern while decimating another planet in the process.
The green lantern would have been a great source of information according to what he read about them and their mission. His daughter was already compiling a list of individuals and warlords who had enough power to hinder their success and so far Darkseid was at the top because they were now searching for the same power.
That's how he got to know about the New and Old gods. He had to keep off the old gods radar until he had successfully established himself and empire in this universe.
No doubt some of them know where the anti life equation was he thought walking out of the hanger.
At an undisclosed location.
The door was pushed open making her to reach for the concealed weapon under her desk and aimed for the girl who suddenly dropped her tablet on the floor and put her hands up with a frightened expression. She couldn't blame her though. From what she knew of her own reputation, the young girl probably knew she had messed up and would be shot dead right then.
"What is it?" Waller demanded angry at the sudden interruption. She put the gun away and closed her laptop.
"There's been a development" her voice was trembling no doubt still envision the gun pointed at her but continued "there's been an attack on one of our warehouses." Passing on her tablet when Waller stretched out her hand.
From the pictures it was a bloodbath and Yvonne managed to view the first five before stopping completely. Her assistant didn't even want to read about it.
Waller did not recognize this particular warehouse but according to the details she was reading, it was definitely theirs. They had so many black sites all over the world that it took great effort to oversee them all.
"What was taken?" She asked already cursing and thinking of ways to torture the person responsible.
"Nothing Sir." Yvonne began. She was also confused and had asked Ivan (her for former boss before being demoted by Waller) about it but it made no sense to him too.
Who would be foolish enough to come up with that plan let alone go through with it was Ivan's thought.
"Then why are you telling me this? Get a clean a clean up crew and handle it. Scrub the place clean. How long have you worked for me?" Waller started wondering whether promoting this lady was a mistake. The organizations protocols should be the only thing her employees think of when it comes to anything related to their line of work meaning contacting the cleaning up crew should have already been done.
Yvonne guessed what Waller was thinking about and decided to get to the point.
"Those aren't our men slaughtered there. That warehouse has been empty for close to two years now."
"What!?" Waller exclaimed opening her laptop again and typing into it. Judging by the expression Yvonne saw on her face she was way past angry now.
"He's dead Sir. An apparent suicide 7 hours ago." Yvonne anticipated and informed her moments before she asked the question. Up until the previous month, the reports received from the special agent assigned to that particular warehouse had no details of it being infiltrated or anything meaning he had been colluding with whoever was doing it.
"Damn it!" It was only a matter of time till she received a call if the mole placed in her organization heard about this.
"Who knows about this?" Hearing only Yvonne, her two associates and the clean up crew among the people in the know made her relax a little.
"What were they using it for?" Waller finally asked the question she dreaded. It was common knowledge to use the art of misdirection in their line of work if one intended not to be blamed for hideous crimes and she was sure the person responsible for this was powerful enough to use CADMUS as his smokescreen as anyone investigating would link the warehouse to her if they knew what to look for.
It was high time she got her house in order.
After hearing of her reputation throughout the years, Waller had decided to take things down a notch meaning less brutality in her dealings and instead focused on negotiation tactics. It seems some people thought she had gone soft and was now not a threat.
Okay, if that's how they want to play it