Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my work. Therefore I would appreciate it if no legal action were taken against me. I can assure you that you wouldn't get even a fifth of what your legal fees would be.

Two Weeks Later

Cadmus, Washington D.C

Chairman Mark Desmond's POV

"And with that there is but one matter left for discussion," L3 said from their monitor. "It is time to select an appropriate target for our combat genomorphs. We have yet to field test their capabilities outside of controlled laboratory conditions."

"Is that truly necessary?" Chairman Desmond asked with a bit of concern. "While I will admit that controlled testing has some limitations, the results still speak for themselves."

"You have indeed managed to meet your project objectives, Chairman Desmond," L3 said stoically with a digitized voice. "However each of us has personal experience with combat outside of prepared locations and unforeseen variables do crop up from time to time. We must be certain that our combat genomorphs will perform as expected."

"Do you have a target in mind?" L4 asked imperiously from the monitor.

"As a matter of fact I do," L3 said before a smaller monitor lowered from the ceiling before being activated. "Meet one Cordelia Chase, formerly of Sunnydale, California, currently located in Central City. A background check indicates nothing noteworthy until the Halloween of '97 when she along with some other volunteers fell under the influence of a spell that turned them into whatever there were dressed up as. While most returned to normal after the spell's termination by an operative of the Watcher's Council, Miss Chase was changed and a few months later began to exhibit superhuman powers."

"And those would be?" L4 asked with mild interest.

"Of those that've been observed we have confirmed, superhuman strength, speed, durability, agility, reflexes, unaided flight and, if the facts from the early stage of the investigation are accurate, some form of life force absorption," L3 replied as images of a young woman in her late twenties was displayed on the smaller monitor. "Her strength based on her recent confrontation with the criminal known as Girder would seem to be on a level comparable to Wonder Woman's, if a bit weaker."

"Intriguing. If she doez indeed pozzezz ze ability to absorb ze life force of otherz, it iz possible zat she could become stronger zan Wonder Woman," L6 said, sounding genuinely interested. "I approve of her selection az a target for ze combat genomorphs."

"Sounds like fun," L7 said with the tone of a trickster.

"As I recall, the purpose of creating the combat genomorphs was to provide us with a combat force capable of fighting the Justice League," L2 pointed out with some opposition. "Would it not be more prudent to send them after one of their allies? Someone of sufficient strength and skill to serve the purpose of this field test but not close enough to the League to garner their attention."

"Who would you suggest?" L33 asked with serious inquisitiveness.

"Perhaps Black Lightning or Icon. Neither is currently a member of the League and both possess the necessary attributes to determine the combat genomorph's viability as soldiers," L2 replied before images of the aforementioned heroes appeared to replace those of Miss Chase. "While both are known to the Justice League, the data available to us does not indicate that the two of them possess close ties to any current member of the organization."

"While the Justice League might not have close ties with Icon and Black Lightning, you can be sure that Batman at the very least is monitoring them for future recruitment," L1 said, showing opposition to the two newly suggested targets. "Sending out combat genomorphs after either of them would inspire an investigation that would complicate the work being done at Cadmus. Better to send them after a new and for the time being unknown hero."

"Agreed," L3 said, casting a vote in favor of L1's proposal.

One after another the board of directors cast their vote in favor of targeting Miss Chase until only L2 was left to put forth a vote in opposition of the idea. In the face of a majority, the decision was made and venture put into motion.

"Chairman Desmond, prepare a contingent of G-Gnomes, G-Trolls and G-Elves for deployment along with the usual observation team," L1 ordered, the vocal distorter failing to hide the authority in each word. "Ensure precautions are taken to ensure that should Miss Chase prove capable of overcoming the combat genomorphs, there is nothing that could lead her to Cadmus. Likewise, the observation team is to take every measure possible in order to prevent themselves from being detected."

"I'll get on it immediately," he said, bowing his head in obedience.

"See that you do. This meeting is now adjourned," L1 said before all the monitors went dark, retracting back into the ceiling where they were normally stored.

Time to get to work, he thought before reaching up to activate his G-Gnome. Contact Doctor Spence.

The tool didn't answer with words and didn't need to but, when he saw its two tiny horns light up, he knew his order had been followed.

Yes, Chairman? Doctor Spence's voice echoed in his mind.

The board of directors has ordered a field testing of the combat bred genomorphs, he thought in reply with all the authority he possessed. Prepare ten G-Nomes, ten G-Trolls and fifteen G-Elves for immediate combat deployment. Choose an observation team out of your subordinates but make sure they understand that for the duration of their observation mission they'll be under level SE4 protocols.

O-of course sir. They'll be ready for departure in a little over an hour, Doctor Spence thought back, sounding a little disturbed at the orders she'd received.

It was not ENTIRELY unwarranted but it also served as a reminder that he was the only professional scientist in Cadmus. SE4 referred to 'scorched earth level four' and that was a level of secrecy protocols that all personnel cleared for the lower levels were briefed on. It basically stated that in the event that capture or sensitive intel falling into enemy hands was likely, everything was to be destroyed using the means provided. Incendiary devices, explosives and acids were the most common methods since there was precious little used to record information that would not be destroyed by them. What only Doctor Spence and himself knew was that the 'amnesia drug' the personnel being deployed would receive was in fact a payload of microscopic nanomachines. At the push of a button the observation team could literally be liquidated into a pile of organic matter in less than thirty seconds. The process was… unpleasant to watch, hence Doctor Spence's reaction, but it was quite effective in ensuring that no information could be extracted from the personnel. The nanomachines themselves would break down into useless dust once they had finished their work on whomever they'd been injected into.

If the observation team sent out managed to remain undetected and returned to the facility, a 'counteragent' would be administered, breaking down the nanomachines so that they could be naturally expelled from the body.

For him it was all a matter of science, efficiency and procedure.

The work they were doing at Cadmus was on the bleeding edge of genetics but the laws made by 'the people' would call them monsters rather than brilliant pioneers. As a result certain measures needed to be taken in order to ensure the unenlightened didn't learn of their experiments or in this case the field tests. The more humane methods 'the people' would prefer left too much to chance and could result in data recovery by enemy agents.

No; better to do a job right or not all.

See that you do, Doctor Spence, he thought back at the woman via the G-Gnome. The Cadmus board of directors are not people you wish to keep waiting.

With that the telepathic connection was severed, leaving him alone in the meeting room with his thoughts. While he could use the time before the field test to work on his other projects, he hated having to break off one assignment to work on another. Therefore he would instead review the intel the board of directors would almost certainly have downloaded to his office concerning the target of the field test. The combat genomorphs, after all, weren't much better than children, and even with their genetically designed abilities they wouldn't fare very well against the target. By reviewing the data he could use his superior intellect to construct simple yet effective strategies that would fully utilize each of the specialties of the various genomorphs. They would then be conveyed to the observation team, who would be close enough to use them appropriately depending on how the target reacted from moment to moment.

Hmmmm. The board of directors didn't specify what was to be done regarding the target upon her defeat, he thought as his mind considered some possibilities. While not sounding like she is in Superman's league, if we could do with her what we did with him…

It definitely opened up some possibilities, especially if he was not restricted by orders to make it an EXACT copy of the original. Already his mind was coming up with some interesting 'additions' he could make to a clone of Miss Chase to eliminate the probable weaknesses she had. Once he finished reading the collected intel on her, he had little doubt that he would come up with still more ideas on how to improve on the original.

Perhaps he should amend the observation team's orders to 'acquire target if possible' or at least order one of the G-Elves to acquire a blood sample during combat and return it to the vehicle. While it did take a specific amount of DNA in order to clone a subject, that didn't mean that he couldn't learn something useful from Miss Chase with a smaller one.

If I could determine a way to make her absorption ability work by proximity AND copy the powers of her opponents, then my copy could be the organic counterpart to Ivo's AMAZO, he thought, remembering that little tidbit from a previous meeting with the board of directors.

Now THIS was the reason he got involved in science to begin with.

Xander's Cottage

The Following Evening

Xander's POV

Well… this is nice, he thought as he ate dinner, all the while keeping an eye on his roommates.

It'd been over a day since Cordy had arrived on his doorstep and since then he'd been kept on his toes trying to prevent any more brushfires from sparking between the queen of his high school and Knockout. While it WAS possible that the two of them really were doing their best to be peaceful in each other's company, if this was peaceful then he really didn't want to see the two of them go to war with each other. They'd likely demolish the house and rough him up as well when he tried to get between them.

On the plus side, Cordy and Barda looked to be getting along while Cassandra didn't interact with anyone unless she had to. Normally that meant during the training sessions he scheduled for her in order to up her experience with fighting superhuman enemies. While superpowers were as varied as his memories inherited on Halloween showed, mutant powers were the ones he, Knockout, Barda and Cordy had were among the more common.

Still, if he wanted to complete her education he'd either need to find the means to create a makeshift Danger Room or pay other superpower people to come and fight Cassandra so she could rack up experience.

Personally while the latter might be cheaper, he was leaning more towards the former.

Bottom line, the peace of the cottage was tentative and it felt like a strong enough breeze would knock it over.

Still, he wasn't quite ready to just throw in the towel and let his cottage get demolished by a fist fight between two powerful women with a bone to pick with each other. He would do the best he could to keep the peace between the two sides and hopefully with enough time they'd come to terms with each other. Even if it was as simple as 'you stay on your side and I will stay on my side', that would be good enough for him.

"So… when do you plan on taking them into Central City?" Cordy asked, breaking the silence of dinner. "I mean, if you want them to blend in, they're gonna need more than what they've got."

"I planned on taking them in when they've finished the strength training," he replied, cutting off a portion of his steak. "They'd kinda stand out if they wound up destroying everything they touched."

"They're handling doors good enough," she pointed out, having observed both Knockout and Barda since her arrival.

"I'm not talking about doors. I'm talking about whatever they want to buy," he pointed out, remembering the early days of strength training. "Most stores have a 'you break it, you bought it' policy and my bank account's not deep enough to pay for the amount of clothes they might rip or tear."

"It's not our fault you humans don't know how to make things to last," Knockout said with some defensiveness.

"If we made things that could hold up to a Female Fury, they'd be the only ones who could wear it," he said, imagining how heavy such clothes would be. "Plus it'd probably put the clothing business out of business seeing as how it'd take years before people would come back to buy something new."

"He's got a point," Barda said, adding in her two cents.

"Well, sugah, since it offends my fashionata's eye to see them dressed in your hand me downs, I'll help with the training," Cordy said, making it sound like she was doing him a big favor. "I mean I had to do it myself once my powers switched on, so I know what they're going through. Should speed things up a bit."

"If it'll get me out of this cottage sooner, I'll do anything you say," Knockout said, sounding like she'd set aside her hostility in favor of expediting her training.

"Same here," Barda said with an efficient use of words.

"Then we'll work in whatever you have to teach in with their usual training," he said, figuring there was no point in stopping what they were already doing. "If we manage to get it done quick enough, I'll fund a shopping trip to get both of them new clothes. Within reason, of course, because my savings account isn't bottomless."

"So shop on a budget," Cordy said, sounding like she was willing to abide by that rule. "I can do that."

I hope so, he thought, not liking the outcome if she didn't.

From there dinner went much like it had before in the cottage but, when he began to take everyone's plates over to the sink to be cleaned, something twinged at the edge of his senses. It wasn't something as violent as the opening of a boom tube or a tear in the fabric of the dimension like when Raven came through, but rather like little specks of disharmony amongst the natural order. It was puzzling because he'd been living in this area long enough to get used to how it felt and he'd never experienced anything like this before. Could the Female Furies have opened a Boom Tube someplace else and decided to creep up on them here? Had one of the enemies his biological father had warned him about decide to show up?

He didn't know but it'd probably be a good idea to find out sooner rather than later.

"You guys handle the rest of this," he said, putting the last of the dishes into the sink. "I've got something to look into."

"What do you mean, sugah?" Cordy asked, sounding half irritated and half curious at having chores dumped in her lap.

"We might have some unexpected guests," he replied, summoning his uniform with his powers. "I'm going to go check things out."

"'Unexpected guests'? You mean someone's come to pick a fight?" she asked, sounding like she was ready for one if one was on its way.

"Maybe. Maybe not," he replied as his uniform arrived before separating into its individual pieces.

It was one of the modifications he'd made to it since its initial inception. Each piece of fabric, each piece of armor, was designed to allow him to use his magnetic power to divide it and unify it at will. Some might think that this would compromise the durability and integrity of the outfit but thankfully his powers allowed him to weave each piece together seamlessly. It'd definitely been a smart idea to mix fabric and magnetically reactive metals together when he'd weaved the uniform together in the first place. Within seconds he was ready to go and walked towards the back door of the cottage, only to find Cassandra moving to join him.

He should've expected this considering her dedication to her assigned task.

"Fine. You can come but stick to the shadows and observe," he ordered, determined not to expose her to unnecessary damage. "Wait until we learn all we can about them before settling things. Understand?"

Cassandra nodded in agreement before running for the stairs, no doubt intent on gearing up before they left.

"Not planning on leaving us out of the fun, are you?" Knockout asked, no longer even the least interested in the food on her plate, not when she had a potential fight to sink her teeth into.

"If you want to join, fine, but you, Barda and Cordy will be second wave," he said, a plan forming in his mind. "Me and Cassandra will be the scouts finding the newcomers and evaluating their threat potential. If there's something strong enough and tough enough to need you guys, I'll fire off some electricity into the air. That'll be your signal to come in swinging."

"An' if it's not that tough?" Cordy asked, sounding less enthusiastic than Knockout about fighting.

"Then me and Cassandra will handle it and fill the rest of you in when we get back," he replied, turning to a disappointed looking Knockout. "No sense dropping nukes to deal with mosquitoes."

The redhead still looked grumpy at the possibility of not being able to enjoy a real fight but looked like she agreed that fighting weaklings wouldn't be much fun.

A little under three minutes later Cassandra was back downstairs in full ninja gear and once they were outside he took them both to the sky on a bearing that'd take them to the unknowns. From this height hopefully they'd be outside any surface to air weaponry and, if they were lucky, the intruders wouldn't even bother looking up in the first place. With an airborne view they'd be able to pick out enemy numbers and get a rough idea of their potential threat level. They'd need to engage them in an actual fight to get the full scoop, though, since appearances could be deceiving as he himself could attest to. At first glance most people would dismiss him as just a college kid with white hair, never suspecting the sheer power at his command. If the new arrivals had some hidden tricks of their own, then he couldn't let his guard down and neither should Cassandra.

They arrived within eyesight of the intruders about five minutes later and what he saw had him a little confused about the identities of the group. They weren't human, that was easy enough to ascertain at first glance, but at the same time they didn't look like they were from Apokalips either due to the lack of armor. Knockout and Barda had filled him in on a few things when it came to the forces their former boss Darkseid might send their way and, with only a few precious exceptions, most wore armor and many carried weapons.

There seemed to be three types of inhuman foes: giant hairless grey gorillas, human sized things with lots of claws and little doll sized things with horns riding on the biggest ones.

Something's not right about this picture, he thought as he looked about the area around the intruders. Unless they're some kind of migrating demon breed that've managed to slip past civvies unnoticed for a long time, they would've made the news coming here. Kinda hard to miss.

While not always the case, most intelligent species, natural or demonic, tended to wear clothing or have some sort of tools with them to denote sentient level intelligence. He wasn't seeing anything like that on the group below and to his mind that implied sub-sentient intelligence, leading to the obvious conclusion that, if they'd come here from far away, they would've been noticed. Trotting through cities and crossing highways where people usually were tended to result in that, after all. To his mind that meant that they'd been transported here by someone, probably in big trucks of some kind, and since he couldn't see anyone amidst the creatures that meant the unseen people were observing.

"I'm going to drop you down. Steer clear of the creatures and look for their handlers," he said, looking at Cassandra. "Non-lethal methods. Locate, evaluate, incapacitate and then restrain. We'll need to question them later. Keep an eye out for any surprises as well. Depending on how much the people behind this value their privacy, they might have ways of destroying evidence in place."

Cassandra nodded and with that he lowered her into a concentration of trees before releasing her from his magnetic grip.

Now I need to get them focused on me so they don't see Cassandra coming, he thought before maneuvering himself to block the path of the lead giant gorilla thing.

"Nice night for a stroll, eh, big guy?" he asked conversationally as the beast and his brethren came to a stop to look at him.

Other than that no response and so further evidence supporting the idea that this bunch didn't have much in the way of intelligence or sentience. Remote controlled, perhaps? Dumb muscle in every sense of the word? Perhaps. Still, if he was going to get a better grasp of their intent, he needed to provoke some kind of reaction out of them.

"As much as I don't want to ruin your evening, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to veer off," he said, keeping the tone of the conversation casual. "I'm entertaining some old friends at my cottage and I'm afraid you're not invited."

To this the lead giant gorilla thing just looked down at him but, when he saw the little doll sized thing doing the same, albeit with the horns on its head glowing red, he knew it was trying to do something. Looking about the area, he couldn't see anything abnormal occurring, nor were his magnetic senses detecting anything unusual. If they were trying to get him out of the way so they could proceed on their previous course and they weren't doing anything physical at the moment, did that mean they were trying something mental? Probably. Telepathy, after all, was a very useful way of getting things to go your way without leaving any visible signs behind, but if that was the case then their handlers would be disappointed.

Having a helmet capable of blocking telepathic attacks was a nice thing to have.

It took about a minute before whoever was controlling the creatures gave up on trying to mind wipe him or something and that was when the giant gorilla thing in front of him tried to smash him. Bringing up a magnetic force field, he let the blow hit in order to gain an idea on the thing's strength level and upon impact definitely put it above what one would expect of something that big. Not enough to bust through his force field but he definitely felt the impact in his head and that implied a certain level of power. If all the giant gorilla things had the same level of strength and not just the leader, then letting them surround him for constant bombardment would not be a fun idea.

Levitating a bit into the air, he prepared to maneuver himself a bit further away so that he could stay out of their pounding range when the smaller ones with the blades began to come at him from both sides. He wasn't too worried since, unless they were a lot stronger than they looked or their claws had special properties that allowed them to cut through force fields, they wouldn't be able to do him any harm.

What did cause him concern was that, while most of the creatures did seem to be focusing on him, his eyes did detect a smaller assortment of them continuing along their previous route, albeit at a faster pace. Quickly bringing up a map of the area on his holographic glove computer, he did some quick inputting to see if there was anything or anyone along the route the creatures had been going in.

His eyes widened when he got an answer: they'd been heading to his cottage!

Ra's, you asshole! he thought as he upped the level of force he was prepared to use.

If these guys were under the control of the League of Shadows, then they were likely a lot more dangerous than he'd originally thought AND it was possible that Cassandra would be operating under different orders.

That changed things.

Knockout's POV

"Has he sent up the signal yet?" she asked, not having seen it but willing to admit she could've missed it.

"Unless you've suddenly gone blind, you know the answer is no," Skunk-girl replied with a bit of irritation. "So be patient."

"How can I be patient when the first real action I've had in weeks is less than a sprint away?" she asked impatiently as he mind pondered the action she could have tonight.

"Remember what Xander said?" Skunk-girl asked rhetorically. "These guys might not even be worth your time."

"I don't care if they turn to jelly after the first hit," she said, not settling down. "So long as I get to cut loose, that's all I care about."

It was one of the things she'd been hankering for since the end of the first week of strength training and, while the sparring sessions with Xan might've taken the edge off, it hadn't gotten rid of the itch entirely. She might not have made it all the way to the rank of Female Fury back on Apokalips but she was still a warrior all the way down to her soul, so peace tended to get suffocating after a while. She NEEDED something that got the blood pumping! Something that gave her that tingle that made life worth living! In her experience there were only two things so far that did that: battle and sex. While there had plenty of the first on Apokalips, finding someone to do the second with had been difficult and, more often than not, disappointing, if not treacherous. They weren't allowed to leave the barracks once they'd been selected for training, so their only choices for fun had been the other girls. While many of them had… appeal, the cutthroat nature of the training meant you could quite easily find your throat slit if you chose the wrong partner for the evening. That often led one to choosing a girl that you knew you could handle if she tried anything, but that also meant that she'd be weak.

Weak enough that she couldn't give as well as she got for the rough stuff and tended to break without warning before you were done with her.

She'd tried this a few times before getting fed up with not finding someone strong enough to go the distance with her in bed. Instead she'd focused on her combat training and, any time she got the itch, she picked a fight with whoever looked like they could tire her out the best. Now, though, now… now she had a substantially smaller pool of sparring partners to choose from. So when the opportunity arrived for her to cut loose against enemies that she didn't particularly care if they lived or died, it was too juicy a meal to pass up.

So to be sitting at the table, all but smelling how appetizing it was, and being told to be patient was slowly driving her up the wall.

It was a minute later that her senses began to detect movement rapidly advancing towards them and it didn't sound like it was being caused by something humanoid. In fact it sounded like it was multiple somethings and fast, too, unless she was mistaken. To her mind this could only mean that whatever Xander had gone to intercept had gotten past him and the fact that they were going in the same direction they had been beforehand all but confirmed that they were hostile. If they had been friendly they would've stopped or Xander would've told them that there was no danger somehow, but neither possibility had occurred.

"Finally! Some action!" she exclaimed with glee before charging towards the oncoming foes.

"Knockout! Wait!" Barda yelled from behind her but she ignored her adoptive sister.

Running through the bushes she used her strength to shove aside any of the trees that got in her way, using her sense of hearing to guide her to her foes. Less than a second later she beheld them and predictably her mind drew comparisons with the parademons of home, along with the war dogs. Not the challenge in strategy that she was hoping for but she would see if they could give her a workout physically. She went after the larger animals first, throwing a half-assed punch to the one she reached first to see if they could take at least that much. She got a grunt out of the punch and a step back but she took that as a positive sign. When it retaliated with one of its primal fists, she brought up both of hers to block it and was pleased to find out that she had to put forth at least some effort to keep from being displaced more than a bit.

Not enough to be pressured but at least enough to have some fun, she thought with a growing smile.

Grabbing ahold of the things arm she threw it at a group of smaller animals that'd been loping towards her with sharp looking claws. The smaller ones weren't very sturdy, though, since when the larger one hit them they were reduced to barely conscious bodies on the ground.

Not very durable or resilient then, she thought as another of the larger ones approached her. Guess I'll leave them for Barda and Skunk Hair to handle.

However just as she was about to bring back her fist for another punch pain exploded throughout her, cascading down from her brain on down. Honestly she likened it to the brief contact she'd had in the past with Bernadeth's fahren-knife, albeit decidedly longer in duration. She could still perceive that she was on her hands and knees and, when the second larger enemy brought its fist down on her back, she definitely felt the impact. Between the pain that had sprung forth from her head and the explosions of pain caused by the physical blows, staying conscious was taking considerable effort, leaving little for figuring out a counterattack.

If she could just get the pain from her head to go away she could turn things around.

When the agony vanished out of nowhere her mind tried to figure out where it'd gone but fortunately she soon found an answer.

"THIS is why you don't run ahead without backup!" Skunk Hair snapped as she threw rocks at fastball speeds. "The big ones have telepaths on their shoulders. Can't kick ass if your brain cells are getting fried!"

Looking in the direction that the rocks were getting thrown, she spotted little toad things on the backs of the big ones and, while she didn't see much before the rocks knocked them to the ground, she did spot a little glow coming from their horns.

Irritated that Skunk Head saved her from a humiliating defeat, she charged one of the larger ones with a growl, throwing her earlier plan of gradually upping her strength until she found the thing's limit out the window. Instead she started hammering it with some of her best moves and reveled in the sound of bones breaking even as the thing fell to the ground. Moving onto the next one, some of the smaller ones tried to ambush her but she smacked them aside like the garbage they were, shattering every bone they had in one blow, causing them to drop like the corpses they now were. She wasn't going to be happy unless she took down more of them than Skunk Head did and that meant no more messing around.

Quick.

Brutal.

That was how she was eliminating them and, even if they could've learned more from them being alive, Xander would have to make do with finding out what he could from corpses.

Before too much longer she found herself bereft of new targets in the immediate area and prepared to go running off to where she suspected the rest of the intruders were fighting Xander when a hand clamped down on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Calm down, Knockout," Barda ordered sternly, not releasing her grip. "These are unknowns and you nearly got taken down because you didn't know what you were dealing with. In situations like this it's better to fight as a team than solo so we can watch each other's backs."

"Like a warrior of Apokalips can count on anyone but themselves!" she snapped, remembering how easily 'alliances' turned to ash on their homeworld.

"Apokalips may be where we came from but it is no longer our home. This world, Earth, is now our home," Barda said with a firm tone of voice. "And the rules are different here, as are the people. You need to realize that or you're going to make a lot more enemies than allies."

For a moment she just wanted to tell off her 'sister' but with irritation she failed to find a single fault in the words. For the most part she'd just been running on autopilot, doing what she always did when she'd been back on Apokalips. As much as she'd prefer not to change, she didn't want to have to deal with all the problems that'd crop up from pissing too many people off, so she forced herself to calm down.

There was still simmering anger beneath the surface but she had it locked down.

For now.

"Fine. Now what?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Now we advance slowly to where Xander likely is and see if he needs any help," Barda replied, releasing her grip. "If he does then we help and if he doesn't we start figuring out where these things came from and who sent them."

"Then let's get going before I get bored again," she said as she more cautiously but still swiftly advanced in the direction Xander likely was.

Xander's POV

Well that pretty much puts an end to that, he thought as the last of the claw focused critters dropped to the ground. But I'm gonna have some serious words with whoever was giving them orders.

These creatures were being forced to fight even though they didn't want to. He'd seen numerous instances when his impressive power had intimidated them enough that they'd tried to leave, go back the way they'd come, only for something to stop them in their tracks. Neither his eyes nor his magnetic powers had detected any technology that could've been responsible but whatever it'd been, the creatures continued their futile assault as ordered. He'd done what he could to be gentle and to defeat them with as little injury as he could manage but whoever was calling the shots pushed them to fight so long as they had the ability to move. In the end he was forced to use a level of power that, even though they still breathed, they would definitely require some medical attention. It wasn't anything life threatening but they would not be able to leave under their own power.

To him this was little better than how Tony used him as a punching bag.

It ANGERED him.

Rising into the air, he looked for signs of the camp that the ones behind this attack had almost certainly set up to direct and observe things. While he'd seen enough of Cassandra's skills to know that she could fight, he wasn't so sure about her ability to incapacitate an entire group of people without a single shot being fired. Looking for signs of gunfire and smoke, it took him a few minutes to see the most likely spot and so he flew to it with all due speed, just in case his bodyguard needed backup.

As he descended towards the ground he could see several large trucks that had likely been used to transport the big ones and perhaps some of the claw variants. However there were also portable command vehicles, like the ones the police used for major operations, but these ones had no symbols or words on them. All around the area he could see the bodies of people in lab coats along with some security guards but his powers informed him that they were still very much alive.

A good sign considering that it was likely Cassandra's first instinct to use lethal force.

However he was seeing further signs of the enemy group's determination to have their way since there were some rather ominous pools of muck mixed with clothes. Considering the various possibilities that came to mind, he only considered two viable: suicide compounds or botched attempts at superpowers. Still, seeing as how the trucks were still intact, it made him believe that either they'd been careless enough not to blow them up or Cassandra had successfully managed to defuse the self-destructs.

Descending towards the ground, he kept his eyes open for any sign of trouble just in case one of the enemy got smart and decided to play at being unconscious in order to deliver a strike later.

Spotting movement to his left he soon identified Cassandra walking out of the shadows, ninjato in hand, and as he touched down she dropped to one knee with bowed head. Internally he grimaced a bit and made a note to try to break her of some of her League of Shadows conditioning. He might not have the know how or the PhDs for it but he would try to help her become the young woman she should've grown up to be rather than the rigid weapon Ra's likely desired she be. It'd take a long while, years most likely, but he'd do his best and where he fell short he'd seek help.

It was the least he could do for her.

"Good job. With so many people to interrogate we shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out who they are and what their ultimate objective was," he said with mild gratitude since he didn't want to see how she'd react with moderate or higher gratitude. "Were you able to learn anything yourself as you took the camp?"

In response she retrieved a piece of paper from one of her equipment pouches and held it up for him to take. Reaching out he could see that it was a memo of some sort and curiously it looked like it'd been specifically formatted to leave few identifier variable for anyone to see. The first was a logo in the upper right of a small circle within a larger circle overlaid with something that reminded him of an hourglass but not quite. Next was a name: Doctor Desmond. It didn't mean anything to him but it shouldn't take too much effort to do a search through the field of genetics or bio-engineering for someone by that last name. From there he'd just have to see which ones had vanished or gone into some form of seclusion in the last couple of years. He seriously doubted that creating creatures like these were legal and, with the ethical concerns that creating life of any sort brought to the table, it was likely a black project of some sort. As for the content of the memo itself it merely referred to a project under to oversight of a Doctor Spence and its progress. The wording is vague and likely only someone who'd been briefed would be able to make heads or tails of it.

Still, a clue is a clue, he thought as he tucked the piece of paper into one of his own equipment pouches. Maybe their computers will contain more.

Moving towards the nearest mobile base camp truck, he made it about halfway he spotted something that had his mind screaming 'DANGER' and reflexively threw up a magnetic force field around both himself as well as Cassandra. It turned out to be a good thing that he did because a second later all the vehicles began to detonate one after another. This caused him to frown even as he worked to keep the two of them safe from harm. Had Cassandra missed the explosives or had they simply been rigged with such complexity that the bodyguard had not the skill to disarm them? Or had they simply been too well concealed for her to spot? If this was a black op it wouldn't do for them to have trucks that were too conspicuous, so having visible explosives on the outside would be a mistake. Regardless, the loss of the trucks meant that any intel they'd contained was gone as well and, due to the suddenness of it all, he hadn't thought to put barriers around the prisoners, leading to many of them being shredded by shrapnel. His powers informed him that there were some who were still alive but he doubted that many of them would be in any condition to speak for a while.

Damn.

"Whoever's responsible for this seriously doesn't want us learning a lot about them," he said with mild frustration.

Still, even as he heard the sounds of the others approaching, he took some solace in the fact that they had managed to gain SOME intel and through a search online they would find the next link in the chain.

"You start the party without us, sugah?" Cordy asked as she came to a floating position a few feet off the ground.

"The trucks were rigged to blow. Most likely by remote control," he replied as he turned to see Knockout and Barda arrive. "Destroyed evidence and killed some of the people in the blast. We need to get whoever's still alive to a hospital. Even if they can't say anything now they might be able to later, assuming we haven't already figured things out by then."

"Central City's the closest," Cordy said, looking at those still breathing. "But it'll take too many trips to get them there one at a time."

"Have you forgotten who you're talking to, Cordy?" he asked with a smile as he summoned forth his magnetic powers.

Taking hold of every free piece of metal within range, he began to create crude but serviceable platform big enough to carry all of the wounded. Some of the metal he was able to merge together with his powers physically but others would require he remain focused in order to keep everything from falling apart.

"Get the wounded onboard as gently as you can manage," he ordered before partitioning some of his focus to use his wrist holo-computer to locate the closest hospital with the necessary trauma care capabilities.

This took a while longer than he would've preferred and, due to their training being incomplete, the ones that Knockout and Barda relocated might've gotten a few NEW injuries in addition to what they already had. Nothing too serious but enough that they'd probably have to come up with excuses if asked by the hospital personnel. Still, once all the wounded were aboard, he gently ascended to the necessary altitude before heading in a straight line for the hospital his search had provided.

"Were you able to determine anything before the vehicles were destroyed?" Barda asked from her spot on the platform.

"I got a logo of the group they belong to and two names," he replied as he increased speed to just under where the passengers would require something to grab hold of. "It's not much but I have sources I can call on to do some sniffing around. With a bit of luck, we'll have something in a day or three."

"And then?" Knockout asked, sounding like she already had a pretty good idea.

"Then we pay the boss of this little operation a visit," he replied with all due seriousness. "And if they don't have a VERY good reason for this attack, we make sure they can't launch another one. Ever."

Neither Knockout or Barda looked to be opposed by the implications of his words but he could see that Cordelia was a bit reluctant to support them. While the two of them had been changed by the Halloween spell, he had inherited the powers and the memories of someone who was willing to go further than the heroine that she had gained so much from. For him there were certain enemies that needed to be put down hard without any kid gloves.

And some that needed to be put down hard enough that they'd never up again. Ever.

Sure, it went against the superhero code of conduct but since when had he ever claimed to be a hero?

He was just a guy with superpowers who tried to do the right thing and was willing to do the necessary thing when circumstances required it.

Two Hours Later

Xander's Cottage

Cordelia's POV

"Hope they all make it," she offered as the group settled down after delivering all the survivors to the hospital in Central City.

"We got them there was quickly as we could." Xander said, turning on his computer. "The rest is up to the docs and nurses at the hospital. I just hope they took me seriously and had the cops put guards on all their rooms. Depending on how powerful their boss is, they're gonna need protection."

"Well, with the entrance we made and it being Flash's city, they should have speedster protection for a little while at least." she said, reminding the doofus of whose city they'd just been in.

"Not forever, though," he said, typing away on the keyboard. "Now just let me input the search parameters, do a quick sketch of the logo and we should have some hits in a minute or two."

"You got any ideas now?" she asked even though she had a few possibles in her head at the moment.

"Right now I'm thinking illegal corporate or military genetics lab," he replied, turning away from his computer to face her. "Those things were clearly meant for combat and no way they're born naturally. Someone in a lab's designing them."

"That means some serious cash. I could see four or five in some warehouse on a string budget but as many as we faced it must've cost a fortune to grow'em all," she said, relying mostly on her Rogue memories to help with this part. "Even Stark would feel the dent in his pocket book funding something like this."

"Not if you've been stockpiling cash for centuries," he said with a bit of heat to his voice.

"What do you mean?" she asked, taking note of this.

"Ra's Al Ghul. He's been the leader of the League of Shadows for centuries. Plenty of time to stock up on currency, precious items and favors," he replied, making it clear he didn't like his biological father. "If he wanted to, this wouldn't be beyond his ability."

"But why'd he do this in the first place? What does he have to gain from this?" she asked with a bit of confusion.

"Who knows how that man's mind works?" he asked rhetorically in reply. "Could be he's just testing his new creations and figured we'd make good opponents. Could be he wants to make sure you're 'worthy' to be in my company. Could be someone in the League of Shadows doesn't like the fact that there's someone new in the line of succession. Only way we'll know for sure is when we confront whoever's behind it all."

"Are you certain that the creatures were deployed here with you in mind?" Barda asked without showing anything on her face.

"What do you mean?" Xander asked, sounding like he honestly didn't think there could be any other motivation.

"Knockout and I live here. So do Cordelia and Cassandra," Barda replied, pointing to each person in turn. "Any one of us could've been the intended target."

"But the only people that know that you and Barda are here are your former allies back on Apokalips and I don't think they'd send animals to kill you," he said, shaking his head in disagreement. "Ra's would know better than to send those things after me. As for Cordy? I don't see that guy she tossed around the restaurant being able to pull something like this off."

"Still, she has a point. With all the paperwork and computer files junked, we don't know who they were after," she said, a little offended that the doofus didn't think she was target worthy.

"I guess so. Jumping to conclusions is generally not a good thing," he said before the computer ding, signaling that the. "Hopefully that'll change now."

With that everyone huddled around the computer to see what Xander had managed to pull up.

"Alright. Logo matches one belonging to a genetics research lab in Washington D.C called Project Cadmus. None of the usual signs of crooked chemical cooking," Xander said as he opened window after another. "Still, their staff does have a Doctor Spence and Desmond. I'd say that's our next stop."

"Do they have any other properties? If they're a national or multinational they could have more than one lab they could've created those creatures in." she said, pointing out a possibility.

"Nope. No other locations listed on their website and initial check of their transactions don't show any big expenditures at any location other than Washington DC," he replied, bringing two of the windows up to the front. "Unless they've got a secret bank account and routes to funnel the funds under the radar, it's this or nothing."

"Could be that they're just better at hiding things that you are at finding things, sugah," she said, unwilling to give up on the possibility that the source was somewhere else. "Still, if this is all we got then we might as well look into it."

"Then pack what you need," he said as he continued to work on the computer. "We'll head out in an hour."

"We're leaving that soon?!" she exclaimed with a bit of surprise.

"It's not gonna take the big boss behind all this long to figure out that their attack failed," he said without looking away from the screen. "The longer we wait, the more time we give them to scrub their servers, burn their files and relocate choice personnel someplace we don't know about. Unless you want just a dead end to be waiting for us, we leave in one hour."

"I'll be ready then," she said, internally agreeing with his reasoning.

"We all will," Barda said, showing her resolve to be on the mission.

With that the group dispersed to stock back up on anything they'd used in fighting the creatures, for her, though, all it meant was switching out of her current uniform and a new one. Unlike the uniforms Rogue wore in the memories she'd inherited, the one she had on wasn't made for superhuman combat. All that she'd cared about was something that would cover as much skin as possible to protect both herself as well as others from her mutant power. Fortunately, once she'd made it clear that she'd be living with him, she'd gone back to the homeless shelter she'd been staying at to pick up the spares she had. It was only three but it was better than walking around naked, waiting for some new ones to be delivered.

Gotta make a mental note to have the doofus whip me up something tougher, she thought after reaching the second floor. Last thing I want is someone seeing the goods and capturing it on camera.

It didn't take long to get to her room and, once inside with the door locked behind her, she began to strip out of the damaged bodysuit. Tossing it in the corner, she looked down at the body that she'd once managed to have tanned to Californian perfection but now was a little pale looking thanks to her powers. Thanks to the tactile based power she had to cover up, keeping the sunlight from touching her skin below the neck, but even if she found someplace safe to sunbath her invulnerability blocked most of the UVs anyways. Sighing at the fashion limitations her powers forced her to endure, she walked over to the open closet before taking an intact one off the hook. Comfortably broken in by repeated use, it slipped on easily before she zipped it shut and she then wondered if there was anything else she should bring on the trip. She didn't have much in the way of possessions and none that she could think of that'd be of much use sneaking into places or making someone tell them what they wanted to know.

The only thing she could bring to the game was her powers and, while one of them could prove VERY useful, it'd take something pretty damn vital to make her use it.

With a few seconds of skin to skin contact she'd be able to learn passwords, identities and classified info about whatever Project Cadmus was up to behind closed doors. Alas the trauma she'd suffered after her contact with her parents still lingered and every time she had a close call with someone, the fear of a new mind being added to her own surged within her. She didn't have a panic attack or anything but it was not a pleasant experience and definitely not something she was eager to experience again.

Hopefully seein' a lady bust through a concrete wall or KO one of their giants'll be enough to convince'em to be polite, she thought as she secured her right glove with a strap to make sure it couldn't easily be removed.

If it didn't, she was sure one of the others could provide the incentive to get whoever they encountered talking.

According to her Rogue memories, Magneto had a way indeed of inducing 'honesty'.

Project Cadmus

Washington DC

Chairman Desmond's POV

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'VE LOST CONTACT WITH THE OBSERVATION TEAM!?" he yelled at the petrified lab assistant who'd just reported to him.

"T-t-they failed to report i-in at the designated time," the assistant replied, barely able to speak. "As per secrecy protocols we waited a full hour before attempting to reestablish communications. However all attempts to reestablish electronic communications have failed. It is p-possible that they are simply experiencing equipment malfunction as a result of the field test but-"

"-But it is also possible that their communications equipment has been destroyed and them along with it," he finished, all but growling at the present circumstances. "Contact any freelance assets we have in that area and have them investigate the last known position of the observation team. We need to know what happened and what if any loose ends need to be tied up. Go!"

With that the scared lab assistant ran off to carry out his orders, leaving nothing but a mess to be dealt with in the meantime. While it was true that he had done nothing but what he had been ordered to by the Cadmus board of directors, they would not treat this debacle as such. No, while he didn't know their identities, he did know enough to be certain that they possessed power as well as resources enough to crush him easily. Such people were never the sort to take responsibility for their own failures but rather blamed others for incompetently carrying out the orders given. Worse than that, without the communications uplink to the observation team's gear, he could not be certain that they'd all been 'dealt' with, leaving open the possibility of them talking to someone.

The board would not be happy if there was an information leak of any sort.

Once the freelance assets reported in on the situation, he would have them eliminate any and all surviving members of the observation team and then ascertain the status of the genomorphs sent for the field test. If they had all perished at the hands of Miss Chase then the built in safety measure would ensure that their bodies would break down quickly. With a bit of good fortune, by the time that any dangerous parties showed up there would be nothing, or at least very little, for them to examine and learn from.

It would still be regrettable if they were unable to retrieve any worthwhile data from the field test but he would settle for avoiding all but the lightest of punishments from the board of directors.

Deciding that it would take time for the freelancers to accomplish anything worthy of reporting back, he decided that he would further insulate himself from reprisal by working on Project Blockbuster. It was something that had a higher priority than the combat genomorphs since once perfected it would be able to make anyone who took the serum a match for all but the strongest members of the Justice League. Given to even a small group of street thugs it would allow the board of directors to field a force beyond anything the League could possibly overcome.

Yes! That will be my apology to them for this debacle of a field test, he thought as he began to stride to the lab where Project Blockbuster was assigned. I will work all night if I have to in order to perfect the serum! I will not be made an example of by them!

He'd worked too hard to be made the Chairman of Project Cadmus!

He'd worked too hard to find a place where true science could be pursued without interfering laws and the whining public getting in the way!

Remembering the days before being hired to work at Cadmus, he couldn't help but smile with vindication when he recalled the small minds that'd talked down to him. He'd been as devoted to the purpose of scientific advancement as anyone else but those small minds insisted on putting too many chains on themselves. They said that, while advancement was important, MORALITY had to be taken into account with every step they took so as not to do more harm than good. He'd scoffed at them, told them that pure science operated outside of such petty constraints, and that they only betrayed their calling by allowing themselves to be held back. Day in and day out he'd tried to make them see the light but it proved futile and he was cast out.

Left to fend for himself, he survived manufacturing addictive pharmaceuticals as well as participating in crimes that required someone with scientific expertise. He'd been careful, of course, and had done all he could to give nothing for either criminal or cop to use to track him down. The money he got from that was just chump change, of course, something to tide him over, with most of his efforts spent approaching patrons who had a reputation for moral flexibility. He pitched to them some of his more interesting and profitable proposals to snag their interest while at the same time giving them a reason to fund his own personal projects. Sadly, while they might've been more flexible morally than his former peers, they were also less than patient. No matter how much time he tried to cut off of his original venture timeline or how much he tried to convey to them that certain scientific advancements could not be rushed, they just wouldn't listen.

Time was money they said!

When all hope seemed lost, though, he was approached by a third party and offered a job at Project Cadmus. The only condition was that he would have to wait for public recognition of his achievements until such time as a suitably receptive atmosphere was created across the globe. He'd been annoyed but, given his lack of options, he'd agreed to the job offer and it turned out to be the best choice he'd ever made. The resources and funding he received at Project Cadmus exceeded anything he'd been forced to work with in the past, to the point of almost being intoxicating. The weeks passed, allowing him to make more progress in his preferred fields of study than he had in years!

Then the bill came due.

After some mild ego stroking the man who'd recruited him had told him that there were some projects that the Cadmus board of directors wanted him to take on. The briefing folders had told him only the basics and, while he'd been intrigued, he truly believed that his time was better spent on his own projects. He'd gone on to point out how those projects would be well worth it for Project Cadmus and be much more profitable than the ones being assigned to him. The middleman had politely stated that he was by no means being told to shelve his personal projects but that his assignments were to take priority. The middleman pointed out that his superiors had invested quite a bit in him and expected to see returns on THEIR terms.

Then, as if to put the exclamation point on everything, he witnessed what happened to another Cadmus scientist, a Doctor Dabney Donovan, who'd gone too far off script with his experiments. There'd been yelling, screaming, accusations aplenty and then, when the man had tried to make a grab for the sidearm of one of the guards, he'd been gunned down. From there a set of orders had been given to the security guards in a manner that made it clear that this was not the first time this'd been done and that the guards were VERY good at it.

In the years that followed he'd bore witness to countless other examples of why it was not a good idea to defy the board of directors.

However he also found out how good it was to receive their approval and their rewards.

Cutthroat tactics and subtle manipulation helped him ascend up the ranks of Project Cadmus until finally he managed to acquire the rank of chairman. Under his leadership the goals of the board of directors were being met one after another, with any hiccups being put squarely on the shoulders of ambitious underlings with eyes on his throne.

That did not mean he'd not experienced a few close calls, of course, but he had survived them just as he would survive this one.

The failure of the combat genomorphs would open the door to even more aggressive genetic experimentation in order to overcome whatever deduced flaws had led to the defeat of the batch sent to Central City. So long as those experiments led to impressive results, the board of directors would not penalize him for this failure but would instead treat it as yet another stepping stone on the path to victory. He already had some ideas that he had been reluctant to suggest, given the projected success to failure ratio his calculations implied something slanted in favor of the latter.

Now, though, he would have to risk them if he was to salvage his position of trust with the board of directors.

If only Project Atalanta had turned out better, he thought upon reaching the elevator. Three years of off and on attempts to wake it and nothing to show for it. All of the tests come back clean. It should be conscious and performing its assigned task.

He was just glad that Project Atalanta had just been the backup for the primary tool the board of directors wanted.

If all went well, the frustrating failure would never need to be thawed out.

Washington DC

A Motel on the Outskirts

Shortly Before Sundown

Xander's POV

"So you got what you need?" Cordy asked from her position by the window of the motel.

"Yep. Took some digging but I got the map of the sewers as well as a scanned paper map done by the people who first broke dirt here," he replied as he closed down the link he had with the local computer networks. "There've probably been changes since both were made that's not available online but we'll manage. You all good to go?"

"Ready," Barda replied, sliding her Mega-Rod into its holster.

"More than ready," Knockout said with an eager grin. "Especially with the gear you made for me."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that ever since she changed into it, sugah," Cordy said with a raised eyebrow of confusion. "What's with the color scheme? I thought those were Jen's colors."

"Well, Knockout didn't exactly tell me what colors she liked and seeing her fight gave me a pretty good idea of what sort of range of movement she'd need," he replied with a shrug. "Besides, you gotta admit it looks good on her."

"Good? It looks great!" Knockout declared before striking a pose. "Colors are striking, too."

"Whatever. I'm good here and so is ninja-girl," Cordy said, thumbing at Cassandra, who was decked out in her League of Shadows gear. "So let's get going."

With that they left the motel room but fortunately they didn't have to travel far before they reached the manhole cover that'd get them into the sewers. A few new costumes in town would only attract unwanted attention and maybe even tip off Cadmus that their targets had followed them home. Taking the underground route was the only way that they'd be able approach and infiltrate the lab without being spotted easily.

"P-ew! It really stinks down there, sugah!" Cordy complained, covering up her nose in an effort to block the smell. "Do we really have to take this route?"

"Walking in the front door wouldn't be the bright move and all the pics of the place show it to only be four stories tall," he replied before levitating himself below ground. "No way could they have created all those things above ground, plus there'd be the chance of someone not in the know seeing something they shouldn't. No, everything we want is below ground and it'll keep them from spotting us until we're already inside."

"Still stinks," Cordy said as she used her powers of flight to follow him down.

"No worse than a Parademon back home," Knockout said, jumping down and creating a big splash on landing.

"Actually I think this sewer smells better," Barda said, following her surrogate sister's lead.

Cassandra decided to use the ladder on the side to get down and did a remarkable job of keeping a straight face but he could tell that she didn't like the smell much either. Neither did he but, after putting up with Tony's drinking binges and overall lack of showering OR bathing, he could tolerate it long enough to get the job done.

For the most part the trip was quiet, with the maps he'd managed to dig up successfully managing to navigate through the maze of underground sewer tunnels. What he didn't tell the others though was that, once they reached the ten block radius mark between them and Cadmus, he began emitting pulses of electromagnetic energy on a specific frequency. While he might just be paranoid, he knew that if he had an underground laboratory conducting illegal experiments he'd definitely put some cameras and sensors in the sewers to detect approaching infiltrators. The pulses he was putting out wouldn't destroy these security precautions but rather would cause them to go on the fritz until he and his group were outside of their effective range. Ever since he'd first made a costume for himself, he'd done some research off and on about the various security systems used by corporations and governments. Some were available to the public or with a little help from the hacking programs he'd managed to acquire back in Gotham. For the rest he sent a generous sum of money to Adeline Kane to get whatever she had on cutting edge security systems. It'd made for some seriously technical reading and, with the science of this world being slightly different than the one Magneto lived in, he was unable to get through it without some difficulty.

Nevertheless he believed that he'd come far enough with his research to be able to handle whatever Cadmus put in his path.

With a bit of luck they'll just think it's a random glitch and dismiss it once everything goes back to normal, he thought, keeping tabs on his power as he led the group closer to their goal.

A few minutes later they reached their first obstacle as the tunnel he'd selected to take them into the cave system found in the records of the founding of the city led to a dead end. A solid concrete wall that looked to be pretty sturdy and his powers told him that there were metal bars inside arranged to maximize the wall's strength. His powers couldn't detect any electronics that might go off if they made a door but it would be far from a quiet entry one way or another.

Should he risk it?

"Step back, ladies," he said as he summoned more power. "Time to make a door."

Reaching for the metal bars mixed in with the concrete, he began to twist them, warp them and use them to cause the wall to crumble bit by bit. He did what he could to make it as quiet as possible but, considering what he was working with, eliminating the sound all together was impossible but hopefully it'd be enough to only be heard by those immediately next door to where they were breaking in. He only worked hard enough to make a hole big enough that they'd be able to squeeze through with little difficulty, though, since he didn't want to waste too much time.

Once he was satisfied he squeezed through first and was happy to see more natural caves and tunnels rather than an actual lab or office.

You'd think they would've made use of this space, or at least filled it in with more concrete, he thought as he continued to follow the map so that they could get closer to Cadmus proper. Guess they didn't think anyone would get this close without tripping an alarm.

"How much longer?" Knockout asked, sounding like she was getting bored.

Something you didn't want unless you liked things getting smashed or busted.

"Just a little further. If I'm right we'll be hitting the wall between us and the inside of their underground levels soon," he replied as he subtly increased the group's pace.

It turned out he didn't need to since they ran into another wall, this one metal, decidedly sooner than he'd been expecting. He frowned since it meant that the Cadmus facility was larger than he'd initially projected, making him wonder just what they needed the extra space for. He'd presumed going in that they were just after 'pure science', without the legal or ethical entanglements holding them back, but this seemed decidedly larger in scale.

Could they be trying to work towards something more ambitious?

It made his head throb at the implications of such a venture, especially with what the super villains known to the world had managed to accomplish so far.

"Guess the time for subtlety is over," Barda said as she brought up her Mega-Rod. "Guess it's my turn to make an entrance."

"Fine, but try to keep the hole small and the blast brief," he said, mentally going over some possibilities. "Hell, if you can manage it just melt us a hole rather than blast one. Less noise and it'll get the job done."

"Sorry, Xan, but being a Female Fury means doing this quiet is a closed book," Barda said before a powerful golden blast of energy shot through the air and impacted on the metal wall.

Much like an anti-tank round, the metal the wall was made of was overpowered in the blink of an eye, creating a jagged hole just a little bigger than Barda was tall. As he'd predicted alarms immediately began to sound inside the underground facility, meaning security would be quick to find out where the intrusion was occurring as well as diverting manpower to oppose them. While he personally didn't think even corporate security would stand much of a chance against them, he wasn't willing to discount it completely. Depending on who was backing Cadmus, both officially and unofficially, the guards could have cutting edge energy weapons or powered mech suits at their disposal. The only thing in their favor would be that the hallways would make deploying more of those genetically manufactured creatures after them a poor tactic. Not only could they take care of them easily with concentrated fire but it'd be the perfect bottleneck environment, meaning only a complete idiot would choose to use them.

Running in quickly he looked about for an undamaged computer console and, when he found one, he immediately hooked his forearm holo-computer into it.

"What're you doing?" Cordy asked while keeping an eye out for security.

"If we're going to make these guys stop attacking us, we need something on them that they don't want made public or handed over to an enemy," he replied as his eyes skimmed through the various file names scrolling across the light screen. "We don't have much time before we'll be surrounded or they'll delete whatever's in their computers, so we need to narrow down our choices and get to them first."

"And once we have something?" Knockout asked, sounding a little interested in that part.

"We find out who the top dog around here is and give him an ultimatum," he replied as he began to encounter rising levels of encryption. "Back off or be buried."

"Sounds like fun," Knockout said with a malicious grin. "Almost makes me wish that they'll push their luck."

Definitely someone who loves the fighting and the chaos, he thought as he narrowed down his possible choices to three strongly encrypted possibilities.

Project Atalanta, Project Brigid and Project Aeaea.

All three had some rather ominous implications considering the fact that this place at first glance seemed to be into creating biological weapons in the form of artificial beings. Hacking his way further, he got a map that gave him a three dimensional layout of facility and he was amazed by the sheer size of it. Over fifty levels, with each one likely dedicated to another form of illegal experimentation, making him wonder who precisely was backing Cadmus. A wealthy billionaire? A group of rich people? The Unite States government? Whatever the answer turned out to be, it increased the level of blackmail he'd need to find if he was going to get them to back off and leave the people he cared about alone. A little more looking and he found the sections of the facility that the three projects were based out of. Fortunately for him two were on the same level, with the third only a few levels above the same corner of the facility.

"Okay, we have our targets for leverage," he said, saving a copy of the map to his forearm holo-computer and marking their targets on it. "Projects Atalanta, Brigid and Aeaea look to be the most heavily protected, so if we can get enough concrete data from them as well as a few pieces of physical evidence it'll be enough to confront the head honcho and 'reach an understanding'."

"Then let's get a move on, sugah," Cordy said, heading for the door. "Time's a wasting."

With that he took over the lead and began to navigate to Project Brigid since that was the closest one to where they were according to the map. For a time things were quiet, with not a single employee or creature being encountered, but just as they turned the final corner leading to the home stretch the good luck ended. Ahead of them were a good handful of the clawed beings that'd attacked them and, while to him it looked like they had been on alert, he somehow didn't think that they'd been expecting him and the others specifically.

With a quick movement he sent forward a stream of edged feathers from his cape, targeting the heads of each of them, intent on silencing them before they could send any sort of message to their master. With a puff of blood his projectiles did their work and, like puppets that'd had their strings cut, each clawed creature dropped to the ground.

"Was that really necessary?" Cordy asked, showing the heroic tendencies she'd inherited from Rogue.

"Cadmus has telepaths so it's possible they keep their guard dogs connected for efficient sharing of information," he replied, spotting then the door leading to the room where Project Brigid awaited. "The longer they go without knowing who we are, what we can do and what our objectives are, the better."

He could see Cordy reluctantly concede the wisdom of his actions but as a courtesy to her he would try to reign in his attacks from here on out. With his power he could turn his blades into a blunt fist or create a large number of said fists and, if he struck opposition just right, he could render them unconscious. It wouldn't be as permanent as death and they would eventually wake up but, if he struck them swiftly enough, before the enemy could identify what it was they were looking at, no useful information would leave their heads.

It'd be risky since the mind could take in a lot even with just a few seconds of breathing room, and so, as much as he might be uncomfortable with lethal force on these creatures, it was necessary.

It didn't take them too much longer to reach the room that Project Brigid was operating out of and, with a quick application of power he tore the door out of its frame, providing them with unimpeded access to the room while shocking anyone inside. Once inside he did a head count of Cadmus employees before repurposing the various chairs into restraints while at the same time dispatching any of the tiny telepathic creatures in the room. After magnetically attaching the restraints to the wall furthest from anything useful he walked over to what looked to be an important console before pulling out the extendable USB cord from his forearm computer. Plugging it into the first port he spotted he began typing away to get past the security software meant to keep people like him out.

It was difficult since, even with the prewritten software programs he'd gotten back in Gotham, the programs of Cadmus were impressive, but in the end everything went green like he wanted.

"Okay… Project Brigid focuses on a specimen that Cadmus picked up from a small temporal phenomenon outside of Austin, Texas. They classify it as an android of advanced design and configuration, with signs of a complex pseudo-skin overlay covering up the metal bits."

Sounded like something from a blockbuster sci-fi movie franchise but still something the ambitious and the lawless would want to invest both time as well as money in.

"For the last couple of years they've been trying to study it while at the same time repair it so that it could be 'utilized to further other projects', but apparently it's a tough nut to crack," he said before beginning an upload of all relevant files to his forearm computer. "Bits and pieces have been figured out, probably remade with Earth materials and copyrighted for money, but the majority is still causing the suits to pop a few brain cells and go bald with frustration."

"It is NOT!" a British sounding lab coat employee exclaimed, strongly offended. "I will admit that the technology is proving… challenging… to analyze, but we are up to the task!"

"Not according to this memo by Desmond demanding progress be made 'or else'," he said moments after having found and read the memo.

"I reckon whatevah they're working on is in here, sugah," Cordy said, moving over to a coffin-sized box with a single head level transparent viewing port on the front. "We gonna take it with us?"

"Yep. Info is good but something concrete that people can look at is better," he replied as the upload finished and he disconnected from the computer. "Besides that, it'll be hard for them to keep researching a specimen when it's no longer there and that'll make it a valuable bargaining chip."

Seeing Cordy walk up to the box, her curiosity evidently got the better of her for a moment as she peered through the glass viewport to see what was inside. He could tell that what she saw surprised her but, when she turned to him with a sarcastic look of amusement, he couldn't help but feel a little confused.

"Darlin', I'm thinking the universe must want you to get laid pretty badly if it's goin' this far," she said while jerking a thumb at the box.

"What do you mean?" he asked, not liking the implications of the words.

In response Cordy dug her hands into the lid of the box before using her superhuman strength to tear it off and cast it to the ground like trash. Not exactly how he would've done it but, given the time restrictions they were likely under, it was probably the right thing to do. He would've used his computer to hack the controls and open it like the lab coat people would've but that might have cost them time they'd prefer to keep. In any case, it looked like the inside of the coffin had been pressurized and kept at a low temperature probably to keep the unknown tech inside in pristine condition.

Walking over to see the time travelling specimen, he couldn't keep the surprise off of his face and it put him right next to Cordy where the universe's intentions were concerned.

Inside, clad in a mini-skirt and tube top, was a very advanced android that would make anything Hollywood could put together seem like an elementary school kid's science project. However the part that'd likely been the source of Cordy's comment was likely the way the metal framework was distinctly feminine looking AND the few bits of intact pseudo-flesh were definitely crafted with females in mind.

All in all he imagined with the android had been completely intact and in top form, the android would've looked like a blue skinned, pink haired, girl in her late teens or early twenties.

"Huh. Definitely NOT what I was expecting," he said once he got over his surprise. "Still, the files indicated that it hasn't switched on the entire time they were analyzing her and probably can't with some pieces missing."

Almost as if the universe wanted to prove him wrong out of sheer spite, the android's optical sensors clicked on, showing a solid red glow before turning into red iris with no pupil in the middle. Then with speed that took everyone by surprise the android reached out with the arm that was in the best condition and wrapped its mechanical digits around his throat.

"Subject designate Magneto. Voiceprint analysis confirmed," the female android said with a slightly distorted voice. "Proceeding with assimilation procedure."

Okay.

NOT good!