The comm uplink to the Justice League Watchtower was stable, and Robin felt his mentor's presence. Before the strain of their partnership had forced them to split ways, they were the Dynamic Duo, the terror of the Gotham underworld. But there's only so much committment you can place on 'the mission' before it consumes you. That was something Bruce didn't understand at the time, which led to the dissolution of their partnership. The fact that he had joined the League meant at the very least he had...reevaluated his opinions, which for Batman, was quite a victory. Despite everything, Dick was glad fences were being mended.
But enough of that. No time to get sentimental. Dick activated the security firewalls and anti-intrusion countermeasures he had personally installed in his computer system and quarters. No one else knew about them, not even Cyborg.
COMM MASKING COMPLETE. FIREWALLS AT 100 PERCENT AND HOLDING. SOUND DAMPENERS IN PLACE. QUAD-ENCRYPTION ALGORITHMS IN PLACE. Y/N?
Robin tapped Y on his keyboard, and a secure datastream went out from Titan's Tower to the Watchtower in geoscynchronus orbit some 110,000 miles above the Earth. This particular datastream was tagged as PRIVATE and shunted through 62 servers and 14 sub-junctions before being routed to a hidden communications hub that did not exist on the primary plans for the Watchtower. Only Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, and Bruce Wayne knew that it existed.
Ten minutes after confirmation that the signal had been sent and was holding, Batman strolled into view of the camera and took a seat.
"Took longer than expected to get away." was his only reply. "I've analyzed the data and recording you sent me, and I've done some investigating of my own."
Yesterday, after the stranger who called himself 'The Sentry' had left, and Cyborg had been repaired, Robin had asked him to make a copy of his memory files of the battle, along with his sensor analysis of the stranger, and his internal diagnostic data of when the stranger had 'jumpstarted' Cyborg with a portion of his own energy. Cyborg had been astounded for the first time Robin had known him. He kept mentioning how even his preliminary analysis of the energy revolutionized several known theories on quantum dynamics and other etsoteric fields. And just like 'The Sentry' had said, several hours after the Titans returned to the Tower, the energy Cyborg had been given simply dissappeared. Robin had simply said he was going to do some private analysis of the data and shut himself in his room ever since. He had called Bruce 12 hours ago, alerted him of the situation, and sent him a copy of all related data.
A smaller window popped up, showing Cyborg's vsual memory files, watching 'The Sentry' in action against Mammoth. It played out, stopping when Gizmo fired the antitank missile and 'The Sentry' caught it. With one hand. A perfect close up of his face filled the window.
"I have run this face against every known database that exists, along with the name 'The Sentry'. Nothing, absolutely nothing has come up on either front. For all intents and purposes, this man does not exist."
"Of course, that's impossible." Batman continued, closing the mini-window. The data your teammate gathered was...very interesting, to say the least. Yesterday, at the time you encountered this individual, several government satellites and monitoring stations, along with the Watchtower's sensors, detected a mass leaving Earth's atmosphere at well above escape velocity. Superman went EVA and recovered it, and even I was suprised to see the object was a slightly smashed up minivan. It was only after you contacted me and sent me the data and this footage that I was able to make the connection."
"Have you informed the League about this?" Robin inquired, although he knew the answer.
"Until we know more, it would serve no purpose to alert the Council about a threat we have no real information on. Exotic energy readings, an...extreme display of strength, a new hero, if he is one... All the League knows right now is that somehow, a minivan achieved escape velocity. Information before action. Remember that."
With that, Batman cut the connection. But Robin had all the informaion he would need, and a plan of attack. He powered down his workstation and left his room.
Raven, a repaired Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire sat around the kitchen area in the Tower. They had been discussing yesterday's events and Robin's absence for close to twenty minutes now. As always, Raven took the cautious approach, the road of suspicion, while Beast Boy seemed to be too easily impressed by feats of power. Starfire was consistently optimistic, eager to meet a new and powerful friend. It was how powerful his 'Sentry' was that slightly concerned all of them. From the way he had spoken, it ws obvious that the ways of a hero were nothing new to him, yet no one had ever heard of him, which was odd.
"All I know is that he saved my life," Cyborg said. "Any other judgements, we sould make until after we feel this guy out."
"I don't like it." Raven said. But then, when did she like anything? "We have no clue as to who this guy is. He just flies in and tosses Mammoth into a car, and then scares the rest of them off by throwing another car into orbit? Who honestly can do that?"
"I have studied many of the Earth's heroes during my time here," Star interjected. "The only other I have seen with such power and skill has been the one called Superman. But he is an alien, the last Kryptonian. Could it be possible that this stranger too is an alien?" Star sounded slightly hopeful at this. Beyond Superman and the Martian Manhunter, neither of which she knew personally, she did not know any other nonhumans who lived on Earth.
"Sorry Star," Cyborg said. "Every reading and analysis I've done of the data says he is human. But that is all it says, which is strange. I couldn't understand his energy pattern at all. Biologically, he seemed human. But he's definitely something else."
Before Beast Boy could speak up, the main doors opened and Robin walked in. He looked at all four of them.
"I've been conducting my own investigation, and I've come up with absolutely nothing. So here's what we're going to do. By now, HIVE will be looking for this stranger too. Someone that powerful, they are not going to let this go easily. We're going to go out and look for him. We'll split up. It HIVE finds him first, they'll probably attack. This 'Sentry' seems strong enough to take care of himself, but there will be collateral damage. We're going to prevent that, and talk to this guy if we can, determine his intentions."
"Titans, move out."
