Chapter 3

Green Lantern raised his eyebrow as the four walked into the tower; the reason for the slightly confused expression was the fourth member of the group who was holding up small piece of metal. As he punched a few keys a holographic display screen flew up with a picture of Mr. Hawkins, Sharon and Shebang.

"I'm at the watchtower, I'll let you know as soon as we know anything" his face softened lightly as he looked at his fiancé, "Sharon sweetie, lay down please, it can't be good for the baby okay? We'll get them back."

He winced at the death glare he received from across the line, "Don't you dare try and tell me what to do Mister, just get them back, got it?" Adam nodded quickly as Sharon continued, "not to mention that I would never do anything to hurt our baby, you be careful, I love you."

Adam smiled softly, "I love you too, now rest a little you know what the doctor said" quickly he cut the line before she could proceed to tear him apart. Looking up he blushed and smirked at the Leaguers. "A Gear invention, it only has a short wave and can't be used for multiple frequencies or videos but is unbreakable, there is no way you can intercept the transmission without the passcode."

Following them into the large meeting room he seated himself at the table looking across it into the seven serious faces, Batman leaned forward, "Rubberband Man, have you considered the possibility that someone already has the passcode to your system, it is possible that they could have gotten it from Gear or Static" he said coldly his voice implying many things.

Adam tensed looking across the table his face clouded so darkly that it was easy to remember that they hadn't always fought on the same side, "Not possible" he cut off Batman before he could interrupt, "After Braniac Ritchie knew how vulnerable the two of them were mentally, he came up with a chip. It was implanted in both Static and Gear's body, the purpose of it is actually quite simple, once activated, either by a word, a touch, or a certain level of pain, it physically freezes their vocal cords. They can still breathe, still…still scream, but any actual coherent talk is impossible. It can only be deactivated by someone with the correct key phrase, which was given to only those that are intimately trusted."

Wonder Woman looked shocked, "Isn't that a little extreme?"

"Not really" he sighed "I have one as well, as do Permafrost, Shebang, and Nails. When you consider the fact that we not only know eachother's identities as well as yours, the location of nearly every bang baby in the western hemisphere, as well as our knowledge on certain government 'experiments' that they would prefer to keep hidden it is a reasonable precaution."

"What if you were all taken captive, is there any other failsafe?" asked Superman.

"A few people outside our group have the code but beyond that no, if it was impossible for the code to be given for some reason then the vocal cords would remain frozen" he shrugged, "It's worth the risk."

He leaned forward ending the conversation as he looked at Green Lantern, "I heard you had a transmission." His face darkly shuddered as he waited. Lantern nodded in reply moving towards the meeting room computer panel, "We do, however it is a bit odd, I think we are going to want Batman's take on this."

Adam tapped his fingers on the table impatiently as Lantern adjusted the volume on the recording as the sound started to echo around the room. Batman's eyes narrowed as he listened to a voice he knew, but at the same time had not heard very much. "Justice League, Static Shock and Gear, Virgil Hawkins and Richard Foley are at 1830 Raven Lane in Gotham. Come as soon as you can."

"That was Harley Quinn, however that sounded more like the old Dr. Quinn, I would say that it was safe to assume that the Joker has Static and Gear. However this could also be a trap." Batman commented looking around the table. "He may be trying to get revenge for what happened last time he showed up in Dakota, though how he found out their real identities is … unsettling."

Across the table Adam stood leaning onto it, his face grim, "In all honesty I don't give a flyin' fuck if it's a trap or not, either we go now or I go home and get my girls and some others to come with me."

"Yourself and three teenage girls are no match for the Joker, he's insane, but also incredibly evil."

"Maybe not the four of us, even though I doubt that, well then how about six, ten, or fifty of us? That sound like enough?"

"Fifty?…How in the hell could you have 50 metas at your disposal?" asked Lantern incredulously.

"Not all metas, some humans, some supers, hell even some megabucks who will buy manpower, do you really think that it can't be done, well think again." He glared at the older men and women across the table, "Are we going, or am I leaving?"

Nodding Superman rose, "We're going; the fact that she knows who they are is enough for me."

As the rest of the League rose Adam spun around stalking back towards the docking bay. He yanked the transmitter quickly keying the code as the Hawkins home appeared in front of him, Shebang straightening quickly as she saw him appear. "Shebang, we have a lead, hopefully we know where they are, I need you to get Nails and Permafrost to set up the medic bay set, and … initiate Doctor."

The girl's eyes looked fearful, "Is it that bad?"

"I don't know yet, but better safe then sorry right?" he smiled weakly, "I'll let you know as soon as I find out."

With a quick goodbye he leaned against the bay door waiting for the rest. Stretching himself out he slithered inside the ship as the Leaguers entered seating himself in the forward cabin quickly. Looking at the ship itself he nodded, "Gear was right, this is a very nice design, compact and efficient. This should be able to land on a normal rooftop or street, correct?"

Looking down at his communicator he keyed in a few location markers and then corrected himself, "Or a dock. What the hell is it with warehouses?" He shook his head as he keyed in a local news station nodding as he saw the story about the capture of another meta and the picture of Static and Gear.

Flash looked at the display, "Okayyy, they're supposed to be missing, how exactly are they flying around the streets of Dakota? Do they have evil twins, possibly ones from another dimension?"

Adam looked startled before he let out a low laugh, one of the first real ones he had uttered in a long time, "Nah, one of the youngest bang baby's around; name's Mirage, and has the ability to basically create any visual but it won't have any physical substance, it will in essence be a manipulated mirage. Mirage creates the visual of Static and Gear and we take care of the punks."

Batman noticed the way that Adam had avoided not only the kid's real name but their gender and their age as well, "I don't remember ever reading about a bang baby with those kind of abilities from the database that was set up."

He snorted, "Yeah right, Mirage isn't in there, there are a lot of bang baby's that ain't in there. Hell, I'm only in there cause I was in jail, Permafrost was exposed and desperate, Shebang isn't a bang baby, and Nails got treatment. The rest, a lower profile then Static and Gear, stay under the radar."

Flash leaned forward looking interested, "So what's a typical bang baby power?"

"There isn't one, hell, there's pyrokinesis, physical mutations, mental mutations, physic abilities, I think there was even one girl who could literally go back in time but she jumped back and stopped herself from being at the first explosion. No one could ever figure out what exactly determined the extent of the change; Ritchie and Virgil have been doing research and think it was a combination between mental attitude, age, sex, and amount of exposure to the gas."

He whistled, "It really was random wasn't it?"

Adam shrugged, "In some ways, you'll notice the younger the bang baby the less obvious their power, you have no idea Mirage has a power, also the girls tend to have more controllable physical powers like Nails and Permafrost. But there's an exception to every rule."

Further explanations were cut off from the front of the cockpit, "We're landing in 20 minutes."