Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious or any of it's characters. By now, I thought you knew that.

:}

Sitting by a pool in one of the more secured sections of Palm Springs, half a dozen men dressed in suits despite the warm weather looked from one to another nervously. A single man, quietly sitting among them dressed for a pool party, had dominated the afternoon, even as he sat back and watched the screen showing what was happening in Los Angeles. The most nervous of the other men, a mid sized middle aged man with a rounding build and a very expensive suit, watched one of the younger men anxiously. Two young men were there to work the technology, and had his total attention.

The host, a man in his middle years, but who had more of a Hollywood leading man look to him, smiled. "Relax, no sense in getting all worked up before we know if the plot worked." His smile faded. "But this idea, this project, it was very public, and I'm expecting good things." His smile returned. "And don't worry about your daughter, I'm making sure she's being entertained."

The last statement was meant as a dig. The nervous man had brought with him someone he claimed was his daughter, but all it took was a moment to confirm he'd brought his mistress, hoping to use her beauty and sexuality to cur favor from the higher up in this organization. Only the boss, the movie star looking man, had himself arranged entertainment, a dozen bikini clad women who severed them drinks or lounged by the pool, waiting for their employer to let them know he needed something. It became obvious they were also sexually available, should the boss decide so. Right now, one of them was inside, servicing the so called daughter, taking turns with the others at their bosses whim. The boss was often cruel, but hadn't wished to punish the girl from the mans infraction, instead letting her know she'd be serviced until they were done. He doubted she'd be able to walk, buy given the skills he'd looked for in his entertainment, he also doubted she'd have any complaints.

"Okay, we're getting something from our spy at the community center." The one of the young men said, breaking the awkward silence. He was the youngest adult among these men, and his basic suit made it obvious he wasn't on t he other mens level in the organization, yet held so many of their attentions with just his words and actions. "Oh, seems like Striker was a failure."

"Constable was too much for him?" The boss smirked. "Make not of that, and lets see how the other services we'd hired play out. I believe you said, we destroy part of the city, and no one will be looking for one opportunistic assassin? Honestly, I only went along because I like having both Grendal and Magmasar in my employee, and this was a good chance to start the relationship. Who knows, with luck, they can take out part of LA Justice. Make the news, and let us focus on the part we wanted, the death of Constable, and the marketability of that enhancement program we've been working on. You know, the one Charles screwed up? Honestly, I want him dead, just because he failed to make sure no one could talk, and now I have to worry about the police maybe finding a lab we put way to much money in." His dark glasses lowered. "We need a success." His eyes shifted to his man. "So, what happened?"

"Turns out The Velvet Phantom is far better then expected, was able to counter him." The man explained.

"And the Puckett girl?" The nervous man wondered.

"First brawled with Constable, THEN Warpath…." The younger man looked pale. "They faced Warpath."

"Warpath?" The boss asked. "A leak, or did they have another reason for her to be there. I mean, Striker wasn't a match for Warpath." He hesitated, looking over something. "Three on two odds, so not that bad. Plus, Warpath. No way Striker could have lasted against her."

"There's more." The man manning the police scanner added. "Bastion faced off against Grendel. The police are estimating the damage at…"

"Don't care." The boss waved him off. "Grendal does like his collateral damage. When he gets done, we'll just make sure our agent comments about it while paying him off."

"The Black Dahlia faced off against Magmasar." The young man added. "That means Blue Steel… wasn't there… She…"

"Showed some of the power she'd shown when she first faced off against Constable and Blue Steel?" The boss asked. His eyes shifted to the man who'd been responsible for putting this whole plan together. "How'd she do?"

"They're trying to see through the steam…" The man explained, shifting to a laptop and typing in a code. An old soviet back door to Pearmaps satellite came to life, allowing them to focus in on a set of coordinates. An image formed on the big screen, and they could see the fountain where the big bad had disappeared. "They vanished…"

"Look for other places with loads of smoke, or steam." The boss ordered.

"Grendals down." The second younger man proclaimed as the first did his best with the tech. "Coordinates…" He rattled off some numbers, and seconds later, a screen showed a crater with an old, homeless looking may laying in the center, defeated, at the bottom of the impact hole.

"Found him." The other younger man said, zooming in on a pond off the Los Angeles River. A man was being pulled out of a hardened mound of volcanic rock by what looked like a blurry image of a lion. "Sir…"

The boss laughed. "Not a total loss..." All eyes were now locked on the man in charge, an international criminal who'd made his reputation by controlling things between the lines of where other organized crime families held power. A fixer who often invested in creating services and resources that would be too expensive for most crime lords, but also could be sold across the lines, to every reasonably established criminal organization might want. Services like enhancements to make meta's of their own. "Yes, we lost a lot of money, and Striker lost. Not as bad as you'd think…" His eyes went to one of his people. "The Puckett girl?"

"Captured by Warpath." The man said. "But she held her own for an impressive amount of time. Of course, her enhancements will fade, in time…"

"Protect her, let the police think she was being blackmailed." The boss tossed out. "That way, we can shift the focus, make them focus on the Puckett family, and not on who was behind this plot. Given how Striker is, that gives t he police a truth to believe in, that Striker blackmailed his cousin, and a good place to hide our own involvement. A convenient distraction to keep the eyes of the law away from us. Also, unlike Harry, she may well be useful to us in the future. And, she proved that temporary enhancements are possible. We can market that. Right now, however, I want everything we can find out about Bastion and The Black Dahlia. Both are more formidable then expected. I mean, she froze the lake. Totally frozen."

"I think that's a pond." Someone said.

"I don't care." The boss tossed out, barely holding in his ire at being challenged. Then, to the man he'd entrusted to plan this, he added "You got lucky, we can salvage just enough of this. After all, I won't blame you for how powerful those girls turned out to be…." His eyes looked back to the images, the after effects of the two major battles, testaments to the ending of each fight. "So much power…"

"So, I guess we're done here?" The nervous older man said, looking to leave.

"Please... no." The boss said. "You're daughter has only entertained about half my ladies, and I think they all want a taste. So, sit, relax, enjoy whats left of this party. Me, I need to talk to some people, find out more about those two." He stopped. "I mean, how? How do I get me that kind of power?" He once again remembered the images, of Bastion over the crater, standing over Grendal's defeated form, and The Black Dahlia hovering over the frozen pond, with the small island that was once Magmasar's lave form, frozen down to solid rock. "So much power…."

After waiting for LA Justice to show up and take charge of Magmasar, hauling him off to jail, Dahlia returned to headquarters. LA Justice had also sent two members to arrest Grendal, claiming that Ultrabro wasn't really a match for the berserker on his own. The whole experience was making her think that maybe her little group had more firepower then she'd first thought. 'Cat, you did good. Just, did you have to break that window? I mean, sure, you wanted to rescue the puppy. Despite your name, you've always been more of a dog person, cause Cat's, too independent. You love to feel loved, needed, and dogs, that's their shtick. But you could have maybe checked to see if the door was locked?'

The police were handling it, claiming it was collateral damage from the fight, at least on the insurance forms. Made everything work easier. Jade didn't much care. She just wanted to get changed and maybe enjoy some cuddling with her girlfriend as soon as possible. The base never looked so welcoming before. "Okay, people, we need a debrief, ASAP." Came over the loudspeaker. Jade flinched, not expecting that kind of response to her just checking in. "Warpath and Phantom are flying in. Someone tell me why they have flying motorcycles? I mean, the whole requisition process, kinda harsh."

The goth groaned. 'Trina told you about her little deal with Techfire.' She thought hard at the intercom. 'Oh, yea, wait. Misses V probably didn't share that intel with the higher ups, and is trying to create a way to explain away the new tech. Man, this is gonna be fun to watch…'

Armored figures showed her to where Holly was waiting. "Dahlia."

"Misses V." Jade replied. "So, you debriefing me?"

"Oh, this is so much more then a debrief." The director said. "You have no idea what you just did, do you?"

"I saved city hall from a flaming, lava spitting baddie." The pale girl said, hoping she wasn't somehow in trouble for her actions at the park pond.

"You and Bastion showed the world just how powerful you two are." The director said. "Plus, we need to take care of a few things, just because. Beck turned out to be a much better street investigator then expected. His support crew, the experienced cops who weren't as useful for the Steel Copper project, they've all recommended he take some courses in undercover work, maybe start on becoming PI, cause he was good, and they want him to be better. In fact, his intel was so good, he's not even being debriefed by me. Nope, the higher ups in the Police-tech Projects are handling his debrief, and I get a copy. However, you, Bastion, Phantom, even Warpath all made the news, and it's mostly good. I've been fielding calls from the mayor, the governor, hell, I think we got one from Washington, and not the state. All in the time it took for those two to be gathered up and you to return. Yea, lets start your debrief, cause I think I'm gonna need extra time for Bastion."

Jade found the unusual nature of her situation apparent in the different approach to the debriefing. She told them what happened, her decisions, everything, as usual, only to have the scientists asking a bunch of questions about how much power she used, was she close to burnout, etc. They were monitoring her abilities, and told her, after, she'd shown significant growth from her expected development, even taking into account everything she'd done. "Honestly, the biggie was teleporting Magmasar. Even that small distance, to do so, and have as much power left over as you did, all without showing any burn, that's huge. Thinking we're gonna need to run some more tests…" A tech rambled.

Cat, meanwhile, had returned, and was being debriefed. "So, when exactly, did you learn to fly?"

"I think it happened some time during the fight." Cat replied. "I just, I'd heard I maybe could, and I so needed to keep up with him, cause he was such a meany, and wanted to hurt puppies. Puppies. Like they'd ever hurt him. I mean, okay, he was acting homeless, so maybe they chased him, or wet him while he was sleeping, but that's just puppies being puppies. No one expects them to be much better then that. No, the man, he should have found a different car to throw at me…"

Misses V was monitoring Bastions debrief carefully. They may all have known most of the secrets around her and Jade, but Cat could be distractible, and a firm hand was needed sometimes to keep her focused.

"So, seems you had yourself a fight." Trina said, letting Jade know she was there.

"No Warpath?" Jade asked quietly.

"Naaa, put her away." The older girl shrugged. "Mom was thrilled I was there, to back Phantom up. Not that they needed me. Not that many people can beat her in a one on one, hand to hand type fight. Not easy when she's reading your every move."

"Yea, kinda hard." Jade agreed. "Course, she can't read me, and I never come close to hitting her."

"Oh, she reads you, just not your thoughts." The older girl chuckled. "Yea, mom gave me a quick debrief, and I can go now. Only, the techs, they wanna have a look at my new bike. Not to thrilled mom okay'd me having something they didn't build. Or rather, something from a contractor who'd take two years, charge us far too much, and then the damn thing wouldn't perform half as well as this thing. Lenard, he could recreate it just fine, and it works. I have one, Phantom has one, and we're thinking of getting one for Achilles Junior, and maybe Wildcard, if we were to ever want to have her do patrols. But they're thinking of who needs one."

"Have a couple that are just for the MIA." Jade suggested. "Or at least the Blue Generation initiative. As in, you have them, hanging around, and use them for people when you need the extra. Not thinking that many of you need the flying bikes, but hay…"

"Things self disguising." Trina added. "A boon for those of us who want to keep our secret identities, and also give our parents a heart attack. Mom is thrilled I have a bike in my civilian identity."

"Yea… Look, as soon as Bastions done, I'm gonna bounce." Jade told her.

"Gonna be a while." Trina sighed. "We're running into a complication around Puckett. Nothing bad, just… Yea."

Jade hesitated, not ready to head out quite yet. "Complication?" She asked.

"Yea, seems the doctor who modified her, they may have left more of a reminder then expected." The older girl sighed. "From what they explained to me, she's some kind of blank, not that the word means what I'd have thought it means. But basically, instead of the original process, which would allow them to short term enhance someone, the doctor in question managed to make her an open receptor for inborn abilities. So, we're sending someone to pick this guy up, for illegal experimentation on humans, but also to find out just what he did to her, cause this is dangerous.'

"How so?" The witch pushed.

"From what they told me, right genetic soup injected into her body, and she temporarily acquires whomever's inborn meta abilities." Trina looked shaken. "Mine, or Meredith's, or even Tori's. Just, right injection, whatever that is, and she can do hella more then just the enhancements her cousin has. Like Ultrabro, she could have his abilities. Girls got the ability, for at least a few hours, to have all kinds of powers."

"Like me, or Cat?" Jade started. "No, cause out abilities aren't in our DNA."

"Keep thinking that." Trina smirked. "But your right about Cat's abilities. Honestly, our heaviest hitters are safe, but how about the heavy hitters from LA Justice? Most of them are inborn, or mutates. All their powers come from their DNA, with certain exceptions, of course. But even Techbanger, or Terastar, or even Cool. All that power, and if we don't stop this now, we could have people hunting them for DNA, to use their powers as a commodity."

"Or a telepath could wind up selling bits of their own DNA, assuming they can, for use in various forms of espionage. Industrial would reap the biggest profits, while I'm sure just hanging out at the stock market might bring all kinds of rewards. Pay for the procedure, and the temporary powers. Yea, this is bad…"

"Worse, Puckett is being represented by a high powered lawyer, who claims she was coerced." One of the staff announced. "V said to go with that, cause it'll give her cover. We fight in court, we lose, and she gets off Scott free. Just, we make sure she's on board to work with us, just in case."

"Only she doesn't want to." Cat told them as she returned from her own debriefing. "Man, they had a LOT of questions. Like, whats the big deal that I can fly now? It's not like my symbiots are letting me read minds, which would be so cool. I could finally know what people really thought of me…"

"Doesn't want to work with the law, or…" Jade started.

"Sam doesn't want the power." Cat corrected herself. "Which surprised me, only it didn't, cause I kinda understand, which I don't, but I do, see."

"What do you mean doesn't want the powers?" Jade was shocked. "She's like me, meaning she'd need something major to make her not want power."

"First, no, she's not like you." Cat started to lecture. "It may seem so, except her family, many of them are criminal, and while she can be bad, at times, she's made the decision to turn her life around, trying to be more then some crook. So she started looking at getting a job of some sort that might, in time, win her a writing gig at some show or another, given her iCarly experience. And, and she doesn't like that she used to be so violent, that she is prone to excesses. She sees herself as a future on line creator and writer who can do so much better then her family, if just given a chance. No, she's street smart, but doesn't want the streets to be her future. She wants to trick someone into getting her a job at one of the studios, and form there, who knows? Just, she wants to have as normal a life as possible, and to do that, she needs to be as normal as possible. To her, those powers, not the point, and I agree with her."

Jade moved to hug her friend, something the short girl eagerly accepted. "I'm sorry you're not comfortable being the hero…"

"Actually, I love it." Cat cut her off. "Just, you know me, never gonna refuse a Jadey hug." A momentary smile. "But yea, I love being a hero, helping people, and puppies. Man, I hope I get to help loads and loads of puppies. Think they'll let me do some public awareness commercials, like adopt a pet today, cause these animals need a good home?"

"Ask V." Jade sighed, trying to untangle from her friend. Cat held on a moment more, enjoying the love of her close friend, before letting go. "But if you love it, then why did you say…"

"Cause of you." Cat cut in, causing Trina to chuckle. "See, I know you'll be a willing hero, but only cause you can do it all. You're far more heroic then you think, keeping Hollywood Arts safe for so long, even if you can be a touch of a gank about how you did it. But you did, and now, you're adapting to being a part time hero, which is the way to go. Let Blue Steel, and Constable, and those like them be the full timers. I mean, how many members of LA Justice are full time? Like two maybe, and that's only cause Ultrabro is so public, and Primal doesn't even look that human on a bet. Plus Sea Slug, a full timer, and he's not the least human…. She's not the least human? Jade, what gender is the slug?"

"No idea." The goth replied. "So Sam doesn't wanna even be part time?"

"Maybe, and I do mean maybe, she'll go emergencies only, but that's about it." Cat explained. "But she will need some training, and a good boyfriend. Thinking Freddie's more likely gonna wind up with Carly, or some Seattle girl, so maybe Dre can step up, date her? Or Beck. Beck's single, and doing things for the greater good, so why not him?"

Jade laughed, and allowed herself a moment. "Yea, why not her?"

Not far away, one of the staff was taking notes, figuring out just what he could sell and not risk them hunting him like a dog. 'I think the fact that neither Dahlia nor Bastion are duplicate-able, that's important, and we'll go from there. But the data on Puckett, that seems, interesting…'

:}

So, the mob behind the importing of those girls arranged everything, and we got to find out just a touch about them. Feeling my Marvel Comics right now, so thinking I'll never mention them again. However, I'm open to your thoughts.

Review.