Chapter 12
"Nia's flight gets in in an hour," Brainy heaved a sigh, from his seat at the microscope at Lena's lab. It was the middle of the night in National City and the work with the nanites was going slower than anticipated. Sandy, Lena's assistant, had had a great idea but the implementation was not as slick as they thought it would be.
"I can't understand why the blood sample is still attacking the nanites. What the heck is going on here?" Sandy was beyond frustrated.
"The trouble with introducing inorganic material into the immune system is that the system recognizes it as inorganic and therefore, not supposed to be in there. We haven't tried it into an injured mouse because if we're wrong…" Brainy trailed off. The truth of the matter was if they were wrong it could cause an incredible painful death of the test subject.
"So we need to coat them in a material that is organic? How are we supposed to do that?" Lena gave him a look.
"I have no idea. Joint replacements work differently because overall the replacement is placed against surfaces that don't have immune responses like tissues do. That is why it takes so long for bone to heal; it doesn't have a fast response like tissue does," Brainy explained.
"Could we slow the body's response and that would allow the nanites to get where they need to?" Lena wondered.
"The only way to slow the body's response is to give it something very big to work on, like a massive infection or gunshot wound, and even then that's a gamble. I think what we all need is some sleep. We aren't helping anyone if we're half-dead ourselves," the Coulan said.
"He's got a point. I do my best thinking while I'm sleeping," Sandy spoke up. They looked at her, confused by her statement.
"Well if that doesn't work, it usually hits me in the shower. My brain doesn't really shut off you know? It just happens to work in places where I can't write stuff down," Sandy told them. The other two nodded.
"I'm heading to the airport to get Nia," Brainy said. The two ladies wished him a good night and he headed out. Lena thanked Sandy for all her work and told her she'd see her later that morning. The assistant bid her boss well and scooted out of the lab, hoping to find a taxi for a ride home. Lena headed out of the lab and headed to her office, flopping on her couch, figuring that a quick change of scenery might help her think. Problem was, she didn't take into account just how tired she was and instead of thinking, she quickly fell asleep.
The morning came early in Gotham City. Mr. Delacroix had been convinced to move his appointment with the chemical engineering department at Gotham University to today by the Crows. They had offered him extra security but no one had mentioned that Supergirl and Batwoman would also be there.
Kara had flown over the large campus, looking at the route that the Crows would be using to get Delacroix safely about. She didn't see anything but college students and security personnel. She had radioed to Kate that there was nothing overt going on. Even her x-ray vision couldn't see anything strange.
"You think they gave up after I showed up?" Kara wondered as she hovered above the facility, high enough to hide in the clouds.
"Could be but Alice is nothing if not persistent," Kate told her. The brunette was following the Crows vehicles at a distance (less than half a mile) on the Bat Cycle, though she was not in her uniform, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Most people on the road couldn't tell the difference between the Bat Cycle and a regular motorcycle, another excellent idea from Luke.
Kara had stuck a GPS tracking unit on the main vehicle, about twenty minutes before the Crows exited their building with Delacroix in tow. This would allow Batwoman to follow the Crows' vehicles without needing to see the vehicles. However, Kate was focusing on the sketchy van that had started following her motorcycle.
"I've got a possible tail," she told Kara.
"I'm on it," the blonde said. Quickly, she flew over the site and honed in on the cycle. She could see the van and landed directly in front of it, the van couldn't stop and slammed into her.
"Stay on target. I've got some masked bunnies here," Kara told Kate. The brunette didn't want to do that but she knew she had to. If there was one van, there could be two. That's when she heard the sound of sirens. She quickly accelerated the motorcycle toward the sound which was coming on an intercepting course with the Crows caravan.
To Be Continued…