Be Human Chapter 12: How 'bout another game, a zeta project fanfic

Anyone you don't recognize is mine. I don't own this or any other DC franchise. Soundtrack: Invisible Sun

Max checked her watch as the terminal filled up again.

"My flight to Opal's in a half hour, so I gotta bail. Ro, Terry, stay , I got my phone, and all the usual lines are open. Jo, be good, and all the buildings better be where I left them. See ya Monday."

"I only did that once," Jo muttered rebelliously. If she lived to be a hundred, she'd never live down what she did to the Albert Memorial. It was only gone for six months!

"I've got to get home before Mom leaves," Terry said. He had to babysit.

"We should leave as well," Blood told Wayne. "I have appointments tomorrow. Today is our only chance to get to Keystone."

"You have a plane?" Dana asked.

Blood smiled. "Not exactly. Part of my fee for teaching Johanna includes arrangements for travel."

He opened his hand to display a small oval black stone. Any magic user would've recognized it as an opening stone, handy for opening doors of all sorts. Unlike someone like Zatanna, he couldn't open doors to other dimensions with it, but he could go to any point on Earth.

"So how much of the cover story is true?" Dana asked.

"I am studying abroad," Jo conceded.

"Her real name is Johanna Wren Constantine," Blood explained. "Her grandfather was known as the Hellblazer, and Bruce knew him well. She's a sorceress in training. I am a full-fledged sorcerer myself, and one of Bruce's oldest friends. The name I go by is Jason Blood."

There was no way in hell or heaven he was telling her his real name. If Dana had had any power at all, she wouldn't be getting Jo's real name either. This was standard for people like him-only the arrogant, like the Constantines, or the really powerful, like Tim Hunter, would give their true names freely.

"He's older than I am," Wayne added.

"Jo, you said your Great-uncle Alec lived in Houma?" Ro asked as they headed to the mall. Both girls needed new clothes, Ro's stuff was ashes and Jo had outgrown all of hers. Also, Terry'd cheated at rock-paper-scissors.

Jo was a bad influence on Matt- he'd already learned the fine art of picking locks and counting cards from her.

"Yep," Jo chirped. "Alec Holland."

"The only Alec Zee and I met was.."

"Big and green? If you think he's odd, you should meet my aunts."

"Hey, you can see the future, right?" Ro asked, hoping to change the subject. Jo only had one aunt who was pure human- and Shona was adopted. She'd heard about Wayne's romantic intrigues from Wally West, and John Constantine made Wayne look celibate. (Jo liked to talk about her family.)

"I already know what you want, and I can't. Last time I tried, I blew up a ouija board and spent a week retrieving all my runes."

"I am not going to keep you here all the time," Stone told Zee as they walked into the facility. "But I do want you to keep a low profile. Stay out of the way of Seattle's finest, and let Red Hood, Bumble Bee and Stinger do the butt kicking."

"Seems fair," Zee agreed.

"Officially, Isaiah Selig is on a liquid diet. The nurses will probably try to sneak some food into your room- if that happens, just dispose of it. Bookmobile comes once a week, feel free to request anything you want. You start work tomorrow. Since you're new, you get inventory duty. Your wardrobe already has your scrubs and the environmental suit. There's an email account set up for you- look for 'Isaac Asimov' in the directory."

Sometimes, Stone thought darkly, Static was just too precious for words. Why couldn't he do crosswords instead of camping out in other people's computer networks? Stone would almost have preferred a more traditional hacker.

"What do you think?" he asked, showing Zee the room.

"Nice," Zee replied. It was a one-room apartment, with its own bathroom.

A bed with crisp white sheets, a bare white bookshelf, a sturdy desk, a window and an office chair. He peeked out the window and confirmed that it was close to the fire escape. He'd be able to see the ocean from the roof. It wasn't as nice as the apartment in Gotham, but it beat a storm drain or a factory any day.

"Nice digs," Ro said over the phone.

"I thought so too," Zee agreed. "I unpacked most of my things already. I wish I'd brought the most important thing along."

"If you forgot something, I can have it shipped."

"Thanks, but the Mann Act prohibits interstate shipping of young women."

Ro blinked. Zee had only started trying to make jokes in the last year. They weren't successful most of the time, and he'd developed an annoying taste for puns.

"Nice one. I gotta head out. I hope Jo's finally settled down. I don't want to hear complaints about the glasses all night."

"I thought her eyesight was 20/20."

"It is. This pair is a special order- they're strictly for looks. Since she's supposed to be a role model, Boss is trying to get her to take the whole 'secret identity' thing seriously."

"We'll talk again tomorrow," Zee said. "Be careful."

"Always."

"The foot bones connected to the leg bone, the leg bones connected to the knee bone, the knee bones connected to the thigh bone- dem bones, dem bones dose dry bones.."

Idil Rashid shut her eyes and prayed to any god that might be listening to please shut JJ Abrams up. He was nice enough, but he always clowned the masks of the environmental suits, most of her colleagues were expressionless, but she suspected they were all thinking the same thing.

No one liked this part of the job. Anne Devancy, somewhere behind them, had once confided that inventory duty made her feel like an extra in a horror movie. Arms and legs in various stages of assembly dangled from the ceiling, and more were carefully crated. Their breath hung in the frozen air.

They had to step cautiously to avoid tripping on the cases of neural implants. One of the doctors had once referred to the inventory as a 'sterile slaughterhouse.' There were blood replacements here, somewhere, but Idil'd never had to dig them out.

"The thigh bones connected to the-yipe!"

"Never heard of a yipe bone," Darren Mckinnit remarked.

"Must've found the body," Idil muttered.

"The body?" Dare repeated.

"Yeah," Mads Prior chimed in. "The prosthetic body, the one that arrived last week. It looks like that model of a body the schools have, only creepier and with less stuff inside."

"A fully prosthetic body? I didn't know those were available."

"Sure. One of the old girls who works in Japan told me people with full prosthetics are all over the place there," Anne said. Antaeus had high turnover; most people completed their training and left for hospitals around the world. There were always dozens of eager replacements.

"I've been working here for nearly two years and I've never seen a full body," Idil said. "I wonder which of the patients asked for it. Well, let's get the parts."

"There's a reason there's not much of a demand," someone in the back shouted. "The bodies cost an arm and a leg!"

A mass groan echoed off the walls.

"Everyone, this is Isaiah Selig, out of Gotham," Idil said. As team lead, she was responsible for the newbies. She led a group of 15. Everyone but Isaiah had been there for a month.

"Call me Zee," Zee said, uncomfortable with the attention.

"Sure," Anne said. "That's all you're going to eat?"

Zee looked down at his lunch tray- soup, rice pudding and a fruit cup.

"I'm on a liquid diet," he lied.

"Oogh," Levi Grossman said, wincing.

"You're a patient too, aren't you?" Darren asked.

"Yes."

Issy frantically typed on her pad. "What's that on your neck?"

Zee touched the 'repeller' hologram on his neck.

"It's a 'repeller' from WaynePowers. They're still in the experimental phase."

He added in sign, 'would you like my rice pudding?'

She blinked in surprise and signed back 'Yes.' Then she added, 'ears work fine, but it's nice that you sign.'

She thought for a second and keyed in, 'Could I take a look at that repeller if you have a spare?"

"Later."

"So you're from Gotham?" Anne asked. "Have you met Batman?"

"Only a couple of times."

By the time they adjourned to their afternoon assignments, the team was convinced Zee was nothing more than a very sheltered, reticent human. A little south of normal, as Darren put it, but that wasn't unusual in the cybernetics field.

Jo watched her target carefully, timing her movements. A crying child near a vehicle got immediate attention, especially if the person was a parent. She was almost too old for this tactic, but it'd work on Bennett.

"One, two, tie my shoe," she muttered, suiting word to action. A quick fiddle with a nearby car door and a word to silence the alarm, and she was sliding through to the driver's side door.

"Three, four, slam the door.." she rolled onto the street, staying low, already prepared for the next step.

"Five, six, break sticks," she snapped a stick she'd put in her right pants leg, and followed that with a yelp of pain. Her glasses slipped off, and she scrabbled for them. Not part of the plan, but she'd roll with it.

Bennett broke stride and rushed toward her. Luckily it was midmorning on a Friday and the streets were deserted. She grabbed his hand and shouted: "Seven, eight, open the gate!"

Ruiz decided she didn't like Jason Blood at all. He'd entered headquarters, bold as brass, called her team to heel without raising his voice and entered her office unchallenged. To add to the insult, he was only armed with a short sword, while her team was fully armed. He hadn't even drawn the sword, but occasionally tapped his fingers on the ornate filigree hilt.

"Ah, here they come," Blood said, making a pulling gesture with his left hand. His right hand remained firmly on his blade. A hole in the air appeared and two figures stepped out of it, the smaller one leading the larger one.

She recognized the former Agent Bennett, but not his escort. A paper coffee cup followed them, gently orbiting Bennett. The kid was dressed in a long brown tunic, brown capris and had braided brown hair and piercing blue eyes hidden behind glasses. She might be Blood's daughter, but Ruiz wouldn't bet on it. She didn't seem unnerved at all by the agents, and Ruiz found that worrying.

"Bennett, Wren, please be seated," Blood said calmly.

"Would someone please explain what's going on?" West whined.

"Wren," Blood said, speaking to the girl. She sighed and strummed her lips.

West opened his mouth, went 'blerm' and shut his mouth, turning white.

"That'll wear off in a couple hours," Jo said nonchalantly.

Ruiz immediately placed her- English, probably from London. Blood had a very slight lilt; he'd either been away from England for a long time or had an expensive voice coach.

"Thank you, Wren," Blood said. "I came here because Zeta empowered me to begin negotiations. Also, I believed you might be sending agents to Gotham- this would be unacceptable."

"Why would it be unacceptable?" Ruiz asked.

"I might have to kill them. Zeta left two weeks ago, so it'd be useless to search Gotham for him."

"Why am I here?" Bennett asked.

"He wishes to end this game the same way it started. Ruiz, I imagine that you are good at your job, but Zeta'd never accept you in Bennett's stead."

"I could have you prosecuted," Ruiz threatened. "Aiding a federal fugitive, trespassing, threatening my agents...sex trafficking..I could put you away for a long time."

Blood chuckled. "Agent Ruiz, you've been trying to find me for six months. Had I not come here, you and your agents would still be looking for me a year from now. I am not and never have been a citizen of this colony, and Wren is merely my student, my first and only apprentice."

"I'm not a citizen either," Jo said. "And I don't need any rescuing, thank you."

Blood dropped a small glass container on Ruiz's desk, jolting her out of thought. She'd been trying to figure out the odds. They were not in her team's favor.

"Have that analyzed. I believe the results will be interesting. We will be going now."

"Wait!" Rush yelped. "When Zeta left Gotham..was Rowan with him?"

"No, he went alone."

Bennett slumped.

"So she did die," he murmured.

Ruiz had never heard him sound so defeated. Yes, Rowan was their enemy, but she deserved a better end than a forgotten grave in the middle of nowhere. They had looked for her body, turning over every stone, but came up empty-handed.

"I never said that," Blood said, with a small, secret smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Ruiz met his eyes, and wished she hadn't. Blood looked like he was in his forties, but his eyes were ancient and haunted. She'd only run into one person like that before.

"I didn't realize Batman had friends," she said. "Aside from Zeta."

"The first Batman has outlived most of his friends. He'll lose another one before the month is out. The one you know as Batman is his son. Wren, open a gate for us. We'll drop James back at his work, and then I believe you have some studying to do."

"Aww," Jo whined, for form's sake.

"Why are you helping Zeta?"Ruiz asked as a magical gate bloomed into being.

"I'm a prisoner myself," Blood replied. "Like him, I'd do anything to be free."

"Was that necessary?" Jo asked, as they entered the apartment. She navigated around the furniture with practiced place was crammed full of artifacts, some magical, some not, portraits, jewelry boxes stuffed beyond capacity, old clothes, suits of armor, enough weapons for a small army, overstuffed bookcases and assorted antiques. Blood didn't have a security system. He didn't need it.

"They would have figured it out sooner or later. Would you rather have them underfoot?"

She considered. "I guess not. They're annoying. You weren't really going to kill them, were you?"

"I would have left some alive. Get back to your lessons, lass."

While he admired Bruce's restraint, he could never do the same. He'd been a knight and later a soldier several times over, had fought thousands of battles, and taken countless lives. If he had to kill to keep Johanna safe, there was no choice at all. There were few things more dangerous than a prisoner who'd learned to hope.

"Why didn't you let me do the rough stuff?" she whined. "I never get to sneak into government facilities."

"Not until you're eighteen, Johanna."

So this is a revised version of the chapter I originally submitted. As always, tell me what you think. Due to stuff, postings will be sporadic.