Disclaimer: Nope, don't own
A/N- hey, i updated faster than i thought i would. so in celebration of the fact that i had my last exam yesterday, i present chapter 7! only a few more chapters to go...
Ted loved being a member of the Justice League. The fame, glory, getting to help people- he got to do what he was good at with some pretty interesting people, Booster included of course.
But there were days when he really just should have stayed in bed, not bothered to get up and face the day. Like today, and how somehow, someone managed to hack the Watch Tower computer.
He knew of about two people that could do that, a third if you counted the Atom's shrinking abilities. He was one and Batman was the other. Somehow he highly doubted that it was Batman that had done it.
So he wasn't sure just who had done it, but he had a vague idea of how they did it. Some sort of mutating virus, undetectable by anyone else as it was constantly changing, constantly moving- they had gotten lucky, this time it had moved into the security system and set it off. If it had have moved into something like life support, they wouldn't have known what hit them until it was too late.
Their would-be saboteur was good, but he was better. His mother had always said it was good to have a healthy ego.
His hands flew over the keys as he tore up the mainframe, searching for the trace he was looking for. Whoever it was was good, but they couldn't be that good. It just meant Ted had to be better. And better he would be, he'd placed his entire hero career on being better than the other guy, he wasn't about to let his albeit, enormous intellect fail him now.
He grinned, letting out a whoop of excitement- he'd found something. A cyber trails as it were. It was just too bad that the room was empty and he had no one to share the excitement with. He'd have to celebrate with Booster later. He could think of a few creative ideas for his partner in crime.
Alright, he leaned back; cracking his fingers before diving back in, it was just a simple case of following the bread crumbs now. There wasn't any place that the saboteur could hide from him and his computer.
"A new record." Ted muttered, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Next time I'll have to race Bats."
The computer beeped, pulling up a map of the Watch Towers various living quarters. A small square was highlighted near the centre of the map- his room- and then another one further off, in a more private area.
A sense of dread crept into his stomach as he realized where that was. The original seven founding members had their rooms in that section. And he knew exactly who had that specific room. Booster was never going to believe this. He wasn't sure he believed it himself, that one of the original seven members had planted a virus that could have killed them all.
Batman paused briefly as he entered the room, deciding not to mention the obvious tension in the group. It appeared that no one had taken the conversation well, however he had the sinking feeling that Clark may have over-reacted.
Bruce hid his surprise as he spotted Wally among the crowd, looking for all intents and purposes like he wanted nothing more than to take out his anger in a physical manor on the nearest leaguer. It appeared that he knew what they had all been trying to hide from him. The question was, how would Wally react to the fact that he had not told him? For the time he would have to separate Batman and Bruce Wayne's emotions or he'd never get the job done. Flash was still in danger.
"There's something you all need to see." Bruce broke the tense silence, going straight to the monitor and pulling up the map that he had been looking at moments before.
"What is it?" Green Lantern stepped around the table, staring up at the map as though it may hold the answer to stop the rift that had appeared among the people present. Bruce highly doubted that that would be the case.
"It's a collection of tracking beacons spread across the earth." Batman explained, ignoring the looks he was receiving. He did not need to explain himself to anyone. The look he received when he glanced over at Wally had him rethinking the statement.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Superman stood his ground at the table, using the large piece of furniture as a barrier from the rest of the group. Batman watched as he mentally separated himself from where he was, arms crossed and frown upon his face. The man of steel appeared cold, his anger bubbling higher and higher, looking for an outlet. Batman knew what he was doing; he was blaming himself for Lightning's abduction; he was taking his anger out on the wrong people.
"You're not going to believe this." He tapped in a few keys and then stood back as the map zeroed in on Egypt. A single tracking device remained on the map, a name and location outlined next to it.
"That's…" Star Girls mouth opened and closed as she read the name. Clark finally joined the group next to the computer, reading the name quickly and then re-reading it as though he didn't quite believe what it said.
"That can't be right." John stated in disbelief.
"It is." Batman told him, not liking, but understanding the doubt. "I placed a tracker on Lightning when he first arrived. He didn't get taken back to the future," Bruce glanced at Clark, trying to judge his reaction. "He's still on Earth."
The caped mans face was a mask as he stared at the screen. Batman watched, waiting for a reaction. A hand fell on his shoulder, squeezing lightly; he was surprised to discover it was Flash. The other man kept his eyes firmly on the screen but his hand remained on Batman's shoulder. Reassuring him, perhaps? Sharing strength? He wasn't sure why. Batman didn't do well with relationships, but the touch was welcomed.
"Garth…" Clark didn't seem to realize he had spoken, shaking himself out of whatever trance he had been in. "This is where he is right now?" Bruce nodded; Superman seemed to come to a decision, turning from the screen. "Batman, J'onn, Booster and I will go down and check it out."
"Me?" Booster Gold asked confusion on his face as he joined the conversation. He had remained silent, a first for the hero, Bruce was sure; the hero from the future had tried to appear as unobtrusive as possible, as invisible as possible. It was a switch from the normal joker attitude. It appeared Booster Gold actually understood the severity of the situation.
"We may need your expertise." The hand dropped from Bruce's shoulder, its owner gone in a burst of wind, the warmth lingering.
"How'd it go? What did the big man say?" Courtney took a breath as she entered their temporary head quarters. It was essentially her room, which happened to be the biggest. "Was Supes really mad?"
She really didn't have the patience to deal with all the questions coming from their newest member. Firestorm seemed to catch on to her reluctance and exhaustion, falling silent.
Star Girl wasn't sure where all the other members were, the ones that had been called into the impromptu meeting with Superman had hightailed it back to their rooms, or the gym- working off anger at the impossible man. She had called an emergency meeting for whoever was able and that amounted to herself, Firestorm, Atom and Supergirl. Vigilante had dragged Shining Knight to the infirmary.
"The Flash knows." She told them wearily, falling backwards onto her couch and draping a hand over her eyes. She could feel the headache building.
"What?" Courtney had been mildly surprised when Kara had agreed that her cousin was being an idiot and decided to join their little protection detail. She briefly wondered if Supergirl had been in the meeting room, would Superman have listened to their side a little more.
"He knows. It looks like he knew from early on…no one told him." She whispered the last part, feeling the shame even though it hadn't just been her decision.
"Wow." Firestorm mumbled eyes downcast. She wasn't sure how old the other hero was, but there was some sort of innocence around him that not many still held working in the League. She wondered how long it could last- she hoped he wouldn't lose it. Atom reached out and wrapped an arm around Firestorms shoulders and she knew there would be at least one person watching out for him.
She remembered her first opinion of the Flash and how playful, optimistic, he always seemed. The man back in the meeting room had been hard, cold, and serious- not the man she had first met. She sincerely hoped that it wasn't permanent.
"So what do we do now?" Supergirl asked, perching herself on the couch next to Courtney. There was no gloom on her features, she was determined, ready to go kick some ass if need be. If asked who her best friend was, Star Girl would not hesitate to say the blonde sitting next to her. She could feel Kara's determination rekindling her own.
"Now, we let the Flash know we have his back."
He'd been given half an hour to get ready for a mission he wasn't even sure why he was going on. There had to be people better off for the job than him, but hey- they were going to rescue a guy from the future, it made sense to get a guy from the future to help.
He may have been just a guy from the future, but it certainly wasn't his home anymore. Sappy as it sounded his home was on the Watch Tower- with Beetle.
"Booster!" Speaking of which…Michael slowed down slightly, allowing Ted to catch up, he still had ten minutes before he had to be down in the transporter room. He wouldn't have been given any time if Superman had had his way. He'd wanted to leave right away. Talk about your guy in love. Batman had had to talk him out of leaving immediately.
Which was fine with him, he'd had to go to his room to check on Skeets anyways. His robot friend had been essentially fried a little while ago- Booster had wanted to check and make sure that he was resting comfortably. He'd have to ask Ted to check in on Skeets while he was away.
"What's up?" He asked, frowning slightly when he noticed how pale Beetle was under his mask. "Are you alright?" Ted shook his head, bent over, hands on knees as he tried to catch his breath. It looked like he had just run a marathon, and Ted was in excellent shape, Michael would know. He was worried.
"What happened?" He tried again, reaching out a hand to grip Ted's bicep just in case he collapsed. Beetle seemed to regain his composure, taking a deep breath and straightening up, covering Boosters hand with his own.
"I figured it out." Booster didn't ask what it was. Instead he glanced around, ensuring that the hall was mostly empty and pulled Ted off to the side. He'd known Beetle would be able to do it, if anyone could have it was him.
"And?" Booster prodded. The proud grin faded off Ted's face. Somehow he got the feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer.
"You may not believe this."
"Try me."
"Wonder Woman." He was right he didn't like the answer. He didn't believe it. There was no way it could be the woman that he had spent years fantasizing about. She was one of the founding members, she was perfect. There was no way she could be the one who did this. Besides, he didn't think that he'd ever seen her near a computer. There was no way she was some secret computer genius.
"You're right, I don't believe it." Irritation flashed across Ted's face.
"The computer trail leads straight to her room. The rooms that no one else has access to." That didn't mean anything to Booster- they had people that could walk through walls on the Watch Tower. It could have been anyone of them. The chances of it being Wonder Woman? About as likely as him walking in on Batman making cupcakes.
"Then you made a mistake." This time hurt flashed through Beetles eyes, leaving Booster feeling slightly guilty about what he said, but it had to be the truth. Ted was human after all, he was liable to make mistakes every once in awhile.
"I didn't make a mistake. The trail leads straight to Wonder Woman." Ted hissed. Booster pasted on a reassuring smile as Captain Atom walked by, letting it slip as soon as he was gone. Ted was caught up in a theory; he'd thought they had worked past that part of their working relationship years ago. It didn't pay to get caught up in a theory, a bad one at that.
"Everyone makes mistakes." He reached out again, hand resting on Ted's shoulder. "We just have to keep looking for the real culprit."
"If you would stop idolizing Wonder Woman for a few seconds," Beetle shrugged the hand off his shoulder and took a step back. "Then you'd see that the pieces fit."
"No they don't." Michael snapped. "Wonder Woman is not that bad guy, she saves people, remember?" They stood there, glaring at each other. They didn't disagree often, but when they did, it was like a full out battle. Distantly, Michael wondered if Ted was just jealous.
"Jealous?" Ted snorted. Booster hadn't meant to say that out loud. "What on Earth would I be jealous of?"
"Of Wonder Woman." Booster probably shouldn't have replied, but he was pissed off and Ted just wouldn't let his ridiculous theory drop. Beetle stood there for anther moment, just staring at him, opening and closing his mouth, searching for something to say. It looked like Booster had won the round.
"Fine." Ted said finally. "You go enjoy your fantasies about Wonder Woman, and I'll get back to figuring why she would want to kill the Flash. How's that sound?" Then he turned and stormed off. Leaguers jumped out of the way of his wrath, giving Booster a wide berth as well when they walked by. Ted didn't look back once and Michael was left with a feeling that winning the round had come at a high cost.
The heat hit him suddenly, a stark contrast from the cool corridors of the Watch Tower. He carefully composed himself, masking his face of any discomfort. Next to him Booster Gold was fanning himself, appearing as…upset…as he had when he had arrived in the transport room moments before. Batman wasn't sure what had happened and wasn't sure he wanted to.
Superman and J'onn appeared unaffected by the heat and the blazing sun above. Clark had already begun scanning the area around them and the large pyramid a distance away. J'onn had gone silent, listening for anything that could help them.
Batman glanced around, taking in the sand and the hot, dry wind and realized with dismay that there would be no tracks and that he wouldn't be much help to the group at the moment.
"Anything?" Booster asked impatiently. Batman cast him a look, before turning back to the other two.
"Nothing here. We should split up." Clark muttered the last part more to himself than the others but Bruce heard it quite clearly. It would make sense to split up for the moment.
"Booster, go with J'onn." Batman turned, grabbing a hold of Superman's hands as he lifted into the air. They would cover more ground this way.
Wally groaned as his door chimed again, mentally yelling at whoever it was to go away. His head was killing him and he hadn't been sleeping properly recently. He was lucky he wore a mask or the dark smudges under his eyes would have been evident for everyone to see. Bruce certainly wouldn't have left him alone. At the moment, he could see it as such a bad thing. They hadn't had a chance to talk. Wally had gotten over his anger at Bruce about not telling him awhile ago- it was Clark's almighty attitude that bothered him.
The door chimed again and he was forced to get up and answer it, the person on the other side didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.
"Princess?" Wonder Woman smiled at him, a slightly guilty look on her face. "What can I do for you?"
"I wished to come and apologize for earlier." She explained. Wally blinked in surprise; he hadn't really thought that much about any of them apologizing. He just wanted to catch whoever apparently had it out for him.
"Hey, it's okay." He stepped aside so she could enter his quarters. "I was madder about the way everyone was acting." She smiled at him again, relief palpable.
"Still, I would like to make it up to you. Perhaps a beer at O'Malleys?" Well, it was his favourite pub and he was going stir crazy. "My treat." He caved.
"Sounds great- I'll meet you in the transporter room in half an hour." Wally agreed. He watched her go, and then went to find something to wear. The pill bottle on his bedside table caught his eye; he'd need to get that refilled in the infirmary before he left as well.
He wondered briefly if Bruce would come looking for him later, but Wally dismissed the thought. Bruce was on a mission according to Shayera. Another mission he wasn't allowed on. An evening on Earth would do him well, some good beer, company of a friend- it was exactly what he needed after the week he'd been having.
Ted stormed through the halls, letting his feet carry him back towards his room. Booster really could be a jerk at times. He didn't believe Ted even when the evidence was overwhelming. He admitted that he wasn't sure how Wonder Woman could have created the virus, and it could have not been her, but it came from her room and Booster wouldn't even acknowledge that.
And to say that he was jealous? That wasn't fair. He had his moments where he was admittedly jealous of the Amazonian Princess, after all she was perfect. He didn't blame Booster for looking, but they had years of friendship behind them and their relationship was still new to both of them. Michael was a football player from the future who could probably get any girl he wanted.
Ted was used to looking out for himself, used to it being just him. He wasn't completely sure how to open up fully.
Some of the anger drained away leaving him feeling tired, more tired than he had been in a long time. When Booster got back they'd probably ignore the fight and everything would be back to normal, or as normal as it got around there.
Ted turned abruptly, heading down another corridor and away from his room. He'd do some more snooping- get to the bottom of this and either he would be right or Booster would be right. He sincerely hoped he was wrong.
It was late at night, the hall lights dimmed to give the appearance of night, even in space. He hurried on, pulling out a small data pad as he went and pulling up the schematics on the virus as he went.
He didn't see the person until it was too late and an icy cold blast hit him, tugging at him. It felt like his soul was being ripped out, long tendrils in his chest.
Ted gasped, unable to move, unable to breathe. His eyes connected with the shadow before him, as his attacker stepped forwards.
Confusion flitted across his mind, betrayal close behind, he tried to speak but no words would come out. Then the tendrils were ripped away and he fell, collapsed to the floor in a heap, darkness creeping in.
"Why?" He wasn't sure if he actually said it aloud, but it didn't matter because moments later he knew no more.
"We should have said more."
"It's Superman, what else could we have said?" Hawk glared at his brother, hating that he was right. Not many people were willing to stand up to the man of steel. It bothered him that the truth was that if Superman didn't want to listen to you, he didn't have to listen. Even Hank had to listen at times.
"I'm not just going to sit back and do nothing." He growled, half hoping his brother would tell him otherwise, just for the excuse to fight.
"I know." Don was ever the pacifist. "Neither will I, or Ollie or any of the others."
"Ollie?" Hank repeated, eye brows raised under his mask. The part of his brother's face that he could see turned an interesting shade of pink.
"Yeah, about that…"
"I already knew." Hank assured him. Don stared at him, disbelievingly. Probably wondering why he hadn't teased him mercilessly about it. As long as his brother was happy, then he didn't care. The second his brother got hurt though, that was another matter altogether. Don had to know about Vic, probably wondered why he had ended up with the world's most paranoid detective- Hank wasn't even sure. All he knew was that he had.
"Well then I was thinking…" Don trailed off again, stopping. Hank glanced at him alarmed in the sudden change. "Over there." He pointed down the dim hall to where one shadow seemed larger than the others. Hank had a sinking feeling he knew what it was.
They ran over, praying that it wasn't who they thought it was. Hank hesitated as Don kneeled down, rolling the person over. He stepped back, startled.
Blue Beetle lay before them, not a scratch on them, but skin unearthly pale in the light.
"Is he…?" Hawk asked, unable to finish the sentence. Don shook his head no, fingers pressed to the hero's neck.
"He's breathing. Pulse is weak. We need to get him to the infirmary." Hank nodded, scooping up the unconscious man at his brother's okay. He was light, too light. He liked this man, he made him laugh; he could feel the familiar anger surging up from within him. He'd find out who did this, but in the mean time they needed to move- fast.