Washington D.C.
June 10, 00:03
"Bana-Mighdall?"
"Yes, princess. They splintered off from Themyscira and migrated to the deserts of Egypt."
"Why? What could possibly make them forsake their sisters and my mother?"
"You are better off asking your mother about this, though I think it was something to do about how she runs things. I don't know."
Wonder Woman sighed and looked over at where Batman and Manhunter were interrogating Grace, no doubt putting her through a toned down version of what I experienced when I first approached them.
Unlike how I remained attentive and fully focused on the line of questioning, Grace snuck us, or more accurately, Wonder Woman a look every few seconds, the conflicting emotions within her all too clear to see.
"What do you think of her?"
I looked away from the pining girl and focused on Wonder Woman.
"Well, she's brash, a bit too cavalier with her nudity if you ask me, curses way too much, and is too eager to fight. But," I said, halting the growing concern in WW's expression.
"She's also brave, fearless, and though I won't call her a hero because I get the sense that she hates that, she put herself in harm's way when things got serious. If you ask me, she deserves a better life than she currently has, but I'll leave that to you when we confirm that she's indeed your sister."
"How will you do that by the way? My sisters and I draw our power from the gods."
"Oh," I paused and went into contemplation. "Didn't even think of that. This means we'll require Zatara's help in ascertaining the truth. I'll still do the DNA test, as I'm sure Batman will. Something tells me Grace is more than an Amazon."
"Why do you say so?"
"How susceptible are you and your sisters to gunfire?"
"My mother ensures that every one of us is trained to dodge or block them with our bracelets. Our bodies offer some protection against the projectiles, but too many of them will fell even me."
"I see," I replied, glad to finally have some clarity on the matter. "Then the DNA test is even more necessary now. I think Grace is a metahuman. Bullets do not harm her in the slightest. Remember what I said about putting herself in harm's way?"
Wonder Woman nodded.
"She took a rocket head on. Without a scratch."
All of a sudden, the gaze of the Amazonian princess focused on the young girl grew even more intrigued.
They were done—Batman, Grace, and Manhunter—and the first two were headed toward us. Before they arrived, I wanted to get a quick word in to Wonder Woman about a personal request.
"Princess, there's something I need your help with."
"What do you need?"
"I want to learn about the sword. And I know, I know, time constraints. You guys have your hands full everyday. That's why I have a solution that will not require your presence, just your knowledge."
"Go on."
I looked to the side at the latest arrivals, giving their faces passing glances before bringing my attention back to the towering woman. "It's not anything crazy," I reassured. "Captain Atom used it to teach the team how to pilot planes. I'd love to go into it right now but there's a more important conversation you need to have. We'll do this later. Please reach out to me when you're able."
She nodded. "I will."
"Thank you."
"Batman. Grace," I turned to the duo. "I take it everything went well?" I asked, alternating between their faces.
Batman's response was a subtle head tilt before he started moving away, and Grace, well, she was not looking at me at all. Her puppyish eyes were fixed squarely on Wonder Woman, and the latter responded with a small smile and a simple, "Hello."
That was the last thing I heard of their conversation as I dutifully followed the dark knight to the computer in the library. He sat behind it and questioned me on what and how things led to this.
I gave him a basic rundown of events, a brief but comprehensive explanation of how the night went, and how it ended with me meeting Grace and the defeat and capture of the assassins.
Speaking of those clowns, he brought up their images on the screen after I mentioned them. He stared at it and said, "You let them go."
My eyebrows shot up underneath my mask. "Yeah. They're more useful that way."
I had no doubts that my recent forays into Bludhaven had drawn at least an iota of his attention and curiosity. And if he was as paranoid as I remembered, he now knew what an absolute mess the city was. Or maybe he already knew.
Explaining how the futile four would never see the insides of jail cells was not needed.
"Anything to say about my performance? Should I draft a report?"
"You've chosen Bludhaven as your home. How you protect it is up to you. So long as you don't cross the line, you have no need to answer to me."
"Oh… okay then."
Honestly, this came as a mild surprise but that quickly faded to nothing. He didn't give anyone reports on how he dealt with Gotham, at least, I didn't believe so. I mean, who would even report to? The League? The government?
He was the leader of the League and as for the second group, if he really cared about their opinion, he wouldn't dress like a bat and take matters into his own hands. As for the matter of murder and answering to him for it, did that even count as a threat?
It didn't feel like one. And I didn't really care if it was.
Oddly enough, of all the emotions I felt towards the League, fear wasn't one of them. There was a lot of admiration, respect, and even frustration. But no fear whatsoever. Thinking about it now made me want to delve into why this was, but again, I didn't care enough.
And there was still that thing with Mike.
Bidding Batman farewell, I went over to Grace and Wonder Woman and found that they were gone. A quick thought and the Zeta travel logs appeared in my HUD. They had both gone to Metropolis.
Wasn't that Grace's original destination? Funny how life works.
Anyway, it seemed I would have to give her the phone later. I'll probably add it to the stuff I send to Wonder Woman when we hash out the details of the training simulator.
With nothing else to do here, I walked into the Zeta tube and used my access into the system to set my destination. Time to see what was so serious Mike had to show me in person.
After that, sleep. Sweet, sweet, sleep.
.
.
.
.
Happy Harbor.
June 10, 00:10
"Alright, let's see what had you so tightlipped," I announced upon entering the workshop, mask coming off my head.
Heading for my desk with brisk steps, I glanced at Mike who stood up from behind his own to greet me.
"Welcome back sir. I will start from the beginning."
Nodding appreciatively, I dropped my mask off and went to the section of the shop where general testing equipment had been arranged and found a Rapid DNA Analyzer I had personally tweaked.
A small plastic container filled with a few hair strands Grace had hesitantly offered on the Zephyr left one of the small pouches on my belt. Right as I started prepping the sample, the needed chemicals, and the device that would unlock the secrets of her strength and lineage, Mike began his explanation.
"It's a bit ironic sir that you are working with DNA, considering the nature of my discovery. I was working down the list of tasks you assigned me—the DNA samples from the Maroni mansion to be precise."
"I remember. The woman and her child. They live there under the family's protection, but we have no idea how they relate to them. Is that it? Did you find out? Did one of the brothers go behind the other's back?"
"No sir. Nothing of the sort. Meili Lin's DNA turned up no results. It was her daughter's DNA that got flagged. It matched that of a victim in a murder case… the murder of the Flying Graysons."
My movements came to a sudden halt but my mind did the opposite, going into overdrive before I clamped down on the tempting spiral. Mike was nothing if thorough. He surely had the answer.
Slowly turning around, I said. "Tell me."
"Her DNA matched one John Grayson, the father of Richard Grayson. Additional tests confirmed what you are surely thinking right now."
"Hoooly fuck," I gently leaned back on the table, minding the delicate equipment on it. "Rob has a sister."
"Yes."
Things upstairs started up again, multiple storylines playing out and trying to come up with how this was possible. Unlike before when I stopped before things went too far, the possibility of cheating being involved proved too strong of a temptation.
However, that itself posed a question. What was the year difference between the siblings? And did we have information on the relationship between Rob's parents? The timeline?
Sighing, I closed my eyes and threw my head back, dismissing all the worthless thoughts and focusing on what I knew. Melinda Lin was 15, Rob was 13. There was a two year difference between their births.
Considering how quickly Rob was born after Melinda, Meili had to have left the circus sometime before he was born. Possibly even before her daughter was born.
You could tell a lot about people they were they spoke about their parents. And though Rob had said next to nothing about them, to me at least, my gut told me this wasn't a cheating situation.
There was more to the story. Sadly, my curiosity ended here. I'd leave things to the people this news actually mattered to. Okay, it mattered to me a little, but not beyond letting Rob know the truth and helping him reunite with his family.
I wouldn't be disclosing the news to him though. I had had my fill of breaking uncomfortable, world-flipping news to kids. Batman, I pass the baton to you.
Before that though, "Mike, anything else?"
"No sir. That is all."
"Hm," I turned around and quickly finished up with Grace's DNA. Once the analyzer was running, I plopped back into my seat and quickly put together a message for Batman, essentially doing the same thing Mike did with me.
Before I added the list of available hours though, I turned to Mike. "Remind me what we have planned for tomorrow."
"There's the subspace foray project. The atomic excitation and de-excitation one. Your date with Miss Felicity, and the follow up on the hideouts of the Blockbuster Gang members."
"Hmmm," I focused back on the message and completed it with the times I'd be available to meet the Bat. Meanwhile, a few scant details of the two projects he mentioned floated through my mind as I pressed send.
When the message sent notification popped up, I let the floodgates open and my mind became a mess of ideas, methods, parts, and inspirations from my tech powers, all of them vying for attention.
As much as I hated the lemon yellow of the airspeeder occupying space in my memory, I had to admit, it was a gift that had given me much more than I had ever imagined. Truly. I never knew Star Wars technology was that advanced.
That could be blamed on no one other than me. I still hadn't watched the movies though. Perhaps with Felicity when we went back to her place tomorrow? Ugh, focus.
Right, the subspace foray project had to do with the subspace beacon I found in the speeder when I disassembled it. A few minutes with Tech-Adapting and few dedicated tools had unraveled all its secrets, said secrets leading to the aforementioned project.
From what I understood, the beacon allowed for instant communication between multiple parties at distances exceeding 600,000 kilometers. If I hadn't created a vastly superior means of communicating a few weeks ago, this would've been mindblowing.
Anyway, this function of the device, as indisputably impressive as it was, wasn't the main driving force behind the foray project. While my scanners had fed me some pertinent info about the beacon, it was the Tech-Adapting that proved to be the better means at that.
Simply put, the subspace or dimension in the Star War universe the beacon used to relay transmissions had a much more, let's say, comprehensive equivalent here. This universe's version was also called Subspace, but it could transport more than signals, and that is what I was trying to crack.
If I could figure out a way to safely send items and people in and out of the dimension, not only would I possess an alternate means of teleportation, I'd be able to upgrade the Zephyr and give it FTL capabilities.
Thinking about the months of work ahead made me smile for some reason. I guess, this felt like a chance to discover and build something on my own, even if it wasn't entirely so.
I mean, I had a decent head start, but even with everything I had on hand, achieving this goal wouldn't be easy. And I loved that. Moving on to the second project, I straight up jumped to what finishing it would net me: heat and cold weapons and everything in between.
Matter had become my plaything due to the scans of Captain Atom's powers. I could make practically anything, even organic matter. The only reason I hadn't delved much into printing and altering flesh was caution.
I wanted more data, and by data, I wanted to work extensively with my mentor on that facet of transmutation. It didn't need to be said about the kind of benefits and capabilities of being able to print organic matter held.
Hell, I'd started with simple food substances, and while I wouldn't call things a hundred percent, the structural differences were miniscule and inconsequential and had no negative effects on taste, nutritional value and health. That last one needed more tests though. Still, I was confident.
Back on the cold and hot weapons, they were related to the transmutation of matter in that they all had to do with the manipulation of atoms. Just that in their case, they had less to do with the arrangement of the tiny particles and more with their movements.
Cracking just how to get the chromodynamic beam to speed up or slow the little buggers wouldn't take as long as the subspace project, but it wouldn't be a walk in the park either. Just thinking about how many tests it would take to get the beams right made me want to close my eyes and forget everything.
A ping from my workstation broke me out of my musings and I sat up, only for two more to follow. I narrowed my eyes and at the first message, particularly the sender. I thought this was Batman's reply. It was actually a message from Manhunter.
A quick gesture with my finger opened it and I breezed through in seconds, nodding with an appreciative hum.
"Looks like it's time for M'gann to join the team."
The next message was from Wonder Woman, asking if this was a good enough time for the explanation about the simulator. A quick glance at the time and an evaluation of my own fatigue level made that a yes and I moved on to Batman's reply.
His was more simple, an acknowledgement that he'd seen my message in addition to the time I should expect him. I closed it right afterward and went back to WW's message, tapping her contact and starting a video call.
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1-10 advanced chapters on: https://patreon.com/MasterReigen