"Why do we have to be shoved into the prison transport again?" Gordon whined as he bumped into Athena as the Javelin continued its descent towards Metropolis. The craft was filled to capacity with all of them crammed inside. Everyone was more than a little uncomfortable.
"You're the ones who insisted in coming along this mission. If you want some more space why don't you have Lucas there create an air bubble and travel down to Earth that way?" suggested Green Lantern.
"Because I've never done something like that before and I really don't think a journey from outer space to Earth is the best place to practice when the risk of mistakes is quite high!" Lucas shot back.
"Besides we can handle a few more minutes trapped inside this coffin can't we guys?" Athena asked. They all nodded.
Soon they were soaring through the skyline of Metropolis. They could all see the robot as it continued its rampage. Batman set the Javelin down about five blocks from the action and they exited the craft. Once everyone was out he turned to face the kids and laid down the law. "You are to remain here and stay out of sight. Under no circumstances are you to be seen. Unless we call for your assistance of the communicators you are to remain here guarding the ship. Am I clear?" he said his eyes narrowing.
"Crystal clear Bats. We won't move from this spot you have our word." Kara assured him using the nickname Flash had given him. She knew he hated it. The League nodded and flew or ran off to face danger. She let out her sigh and crossed her arms angrily. "I don't believe it! They finally allow us to leave that godforsaken Watchtower so we can help them and now where not even allowed to leave the ship. This is so unfair."
"Hey his exact words were we couldn't leave the building or be seen. He never said a word about us helping them out by scanning the robot and seeing what we can learn." Athena pointed out mischevely. The others grinned widely and started analyzing the robot.
"I'm getting unusual high energy readings from that robot. Its power readings are off the chart! The computers never even registered something of this magnitude before." Athena commented after scanning for the power source.
"I'm getting readings of unknown materials that the computer is having trouble identifying. I'm cross-referencing results with the Watchtower Mainframe and my own mini computer. That's strange." Max said confused as she double checked her results but they didn't vary.
"What where you able to identify what that thing is made out of?" Terra asked looking over her shoulder at the screen. "Hey that's not possible! According to this that robot is made up of tritanium steel and other metals that haven't even been discovered yet!"
"You think that's strange I'm reading at least twenty weapons that haven't even been conceived of yet. In fact they were only manufactured last year our time." Lucas said.
"I recognize that shielding it's using to defend itself from the Leagues attacks. It's a combination of force fields and isolation field that Wayne's company developed. But that's impossible!" Terry said astonished.
"This entire robot makes no sense. I mean look at it. It doesn't even match with any known configuration for robots used by any of the worlds powers or Leagues enemies. It kind of resembles all of us thrown together." Gordon pointed out. It really did. The entire thing was fifty feet tall and was human in shape but had what appeared to be collapsible wings on its back. The face resembled Batman slightly but all there symbols were every were on the different colored metal.
"When I x-rayed the thing I saw advance circuitry and sympnaptic controls. Not to mention nanites of the most advance making. It can repair itself and the AI matrix is way more advance than anything of this time." Kara informed them.
"I thing were dealing with a synthoid automaton designed to lure us out. Only someone from our time would know how to build that thing. Once more I've picked up a signal coming from it. Its remote controlled. Someone is telling what that thing should do." J'osse reported
"Then we got to put a stop to it now. A lot of innocent people are getting hurt and if we don't do something soon someone's going to die. Besides whoever is controlling that thing might be able to assist us in getting back to our own time." Marina pointed out.
"Whatever where going to do we have to it now. Look at the monitors on the Javelin have picked up. Our parents are getting their butts kicked and I don't think they can't last much longer." Shania said hurriedly. She brought up the picture blew it up to full size. They watched in horror as they saw Wonder Women and Batman both get kicked into the side of a building. One of the synthoid fingers shot out an energy pulse at Green Lantern sending him careening out of the sky. When Hawkgirl dove after him her wings caught on fire. Superman was having no luck at all. He couldn't make a dent in the armor and J'onn couldn't phase through the shield. Flash was trying to send a whirlwind at the automaton but it was weather resistance. Shania stood up and shoved away from the station. "Come on they need our help!"
"I'll use my powers. I'll scoop them up and bring them back here. We can then tell them of our plan. Now give me some space I've never done anything this big before." Lucas said. Everyone took a step back and he scrunched his eyes closed in fierce concentration. He let loose a huge amount of energy and shaped it into several scoops or hooks. He managed to snag all the League members and bring them to relative safety where Shania started giving them first aid. "Why did you do that? We had that thing right where we wanted it!" Green Lantern demanded furiously. "Your welcome." Lucas said sarcastitically.
"You guys are lucky that you didn't get yourself killed! That synthoid is the most advance machine you ever fought. It's comprised of technology found in our time. It hasn't even been invented yet!" Athena informed them.
"This is our problem now not your. We're the ones that have to take this synthoid out. You guys need to stay here next to the Javelin and recover from your injuries." Shania told them finishing up with her treatments.
"You can't do that! You can't be seen! If you are the entire timeline could be destroyed or you could alter time. You could be seriously injured" Superman argued.
"Will be careful don't worry and will make sure to be seen as little as possible. But we have to do something otherwise that automaton is just going to continue destroying everything in sight." Kara told him. "Besides I know how to avoid the press. Mom taught me."
"Alright come on guys lets get going." Terry said. They all flew off or zoomed off. Over the communicators Terry outlined his plan to the rest of the group. "Okay here's what were going to do. Max and Marina you two are to try and find out who is controlling that thing and put a stop to them. Wonder Girl and Flashboy will distract that thing while Green Lantern J. and Supergirl slip inside and shut the thing down. Hawklady and Martian Boyhunter will try to keep the populace safe and destroy the weapons. Batgirl and I will take out the brain. Lets go."
From the rooftop the League watched the battle. They were biting their gums and were waiting anxiously. "Are you sure they'll be okay? I mean their only teenagers! They could be seriously hurt or even killed!" Wonder Women fretted.
"We have to trust that they know what there doing. If their confident that they can handle this problem then I believe in them." J'onn said. The others nodded and watched the battle unfold.
Marina and Max were no longer balls of light. Now they were more like giant ovals the size of a human, but without form. Max had flown them past the synthoid to a nearby roof. "Time to see if we can pinpoint the source of this problem. Digital energy reading!" Max said. Electric green energy pulsed out from her and formed a wavering line in the air leading away from the automaton. "Good now all we have to do is follow the signal to the source."
"Then I can use my sonic blast to give the operator a taste of his own medicine. Come on the sooner we find the guy controlling this thing the sooner we can shut it down." Marina said.
Down on the streets below Flashboy was creating multiple wind vortexes trying to knock the thing off balance, but the synthoid activated its hover pads and levitated off the ground. Wonder Girl soared into the air and bashed one of the pads forcing it back to the ground. "Your not going anywhere metal face." She shouted
Hawklady and Martian Boyhunter had gotten the last of the civilians and police away when the synthoid let loose a volley of energy balls at them. Hawklady used her bo staff to deflect the shots while Martian Boyhunter just phased through them. "We have to figure out a way to shut down those weapons!" Hawklady yelled.
"I agree with you. But how do you suppose we do that?" Martian Boyhunter replied dodging another volley of fire.
Green Lantern J. was pouring his whole heart into creating a crack in the shields so that he and Supergirl could slip inside. But he was having some trouble. "I can't seem to shut down the iso field. If I could do that I could manage the force field." He informed he as they hovered behind the monstrosity.
"Allow me then. Just tell me where the iso field generator is located at and I'll pound that area till it breaks." Supergirl said firmly.
Green Lantern J. pointed to a small disk situated just below the wings. The iso field was being produced from there. "They only way you're going to destroy it is if you hit near super sonic levels. Sound is the only thing that disrupts it. Can you do it?" He asked still trying to break down the force field.
She smiled at him and gave him a salute. "Consider it done!" she shouted and took off towards the sky. Higher and higher she climbed before she spiraled downward. Aiming herself directly at the small device she hit the isolation field full force knocking it out. At the exact same moment Green Lantern J. managed to make to take out the force field. The two of them slipped through its remaining defenses and using her heat vision enter the synthoid through its back. "Come on lets find the power source and shut this thing down." Supergirl exclaimed.
Batman and Batgirl had launched a simotansely attack on the head of the synthoid. They launched a combination of grenades and Batarang but they didn't even dent it. Batgirl launched a cable from one of her elbow juts and pulled hard. The line snapped sending her tumbling from the sky. She activated her rocket powered boots and extended her wings soaring back to battle. Batman was using his claws to try to gorge out its eyes, but kept getting shake around. "Terry has you suit detected any weak spots. I can't detect any from up here." Batgirl said into her communicator.
"Nothing so far, but that doesn't mean there isn't. Don't give up yet! We can do this if we try hard enough." Batman replied.
Max and Marina had been following the signal for at least a mile when it finally came to a halt next to an apartment building. "The signal is coming from the rooftop. I can fly us up there. You ready for this?" Max inquired. Marina nodded and both ovals went flying up to the roof.
When they got there it looked pretty much deserted. There was a water tower to one side near the air ducts. Also a door that led down to the apartments but other then that there was nothing. The two girls cautiously explored their surroundings ready for anything. "Are you sure that the signal was coming from here?" Marina asked tersely.
"Positive. I may not fully understand my powers, but I do know electronics. If they said that the source of the signal is here its here." Max told her. Suddenly both girls were attacked from behind. Someone with tremendous strength kicked them all way to the other side of the roof. Both girls spun around to face their attacker.
Their attacker was clad in a skintight black body suit, black boots and gloves, and had on a mask that only showed their eyes. In one hand the person had a small transmitter. The person was also an adult female. "Well I wasn't expecting you two. I mean I thought we weren't going to have to deal with Mystic Robin or Aquagirl obviously I was wrong. This alters our plans quite a bit. I'll have to personally see to it that I gather the right amount of information on you two." The person's voice was severely distorted most likely by a voice changer.
"I don't know who you are lady, but you are in serious trouble. No way are we going to let you continue your little fun." Max said or as she was now known as Mystic Robin. She stood up and so did Aquagirl.
"My empathic powers are reading nothing, but evil and deception of this women. Be ready for anything. We can't let her get away." Aquagirl said to her friend.
"I'm afraid that it's not up to you girls anymore. You have no idea what game your playing or what's at stake. But I will tell you this. Your on the losing side!" the women said before flying straight at them. They dove out of the way in the nick of time. She soared into the air ready for another attack run.
Aquagirl concentrated her mind on the water in the tower and forced it to spill out from the tower. She formed it into the shape of a whip and sent it hurling at the women at the same time Mystic Robin shot out a bunch of ice crystals. The women dodged the whip and pounded the crystals to dust. Clearly they would have to work harder to defeat her.
Meanwhile the League was getting impatient waiting for their kids to take care of the problem. They were all impressed by the way they were handling the situation and how much control they had over their powers. Clearly they were not undisplined raw cadets, but veteran's fighters. Still it was disconcerting to watch from the sidelines. But with their injuries and lack of knowledge with the advance technology they would be a liability if they tried to help. "I don't like this. Sitting here doing nothing is not our way. We've been outclassed and injured worse before. Why are we risking the lives of our children against a foe that we should be dealing with ourselves?" demanded Hawkgirl.
"Hawkgirl's right. I mean look at them. Sure they're doing okay so far, but the tide can turn at any moment. I don't want to have their blood on our hands because we decided to sit out." Flash said.
"Has it occurred to anyone besides me that this has all been an elaborated trap? Designed to draw the kids and us out into the open for some reason." Batman asked.
"But what possible reason could there be?" Superman asked his friend. Suddenly they were surrounded by four figures all dressed in black. Before they could defend themselves they were incapacities by sweet smelling yellow gas. In their weakened state they couldn't fight it off or their attackers. They collapsed to the ground within in minutes.
"That was to easy. I was hoping they put up more of a fight." One of the captors said as they started dragging the bodies onto their own craft.
"Patience. Soon our moment of triumph will occur and will get our sweet revenge. Come we have to get out of here. Leave the note. Lets hope the synthoid keeps them occupied a little while longer." Another one said.
"Don't forget we need all the information it can provide for us about the kids otherwise the plan fails." The only female in the group said.
"Don't worry everything is going according to plan. I'll signal WW in about fifteen minutes and that will be that." The Leader said as they loaded the last of them aboard the craft. It lifted off from the rooftop and flew away.
Batman was digging his claws deep into the synthoid in a desperate attempt not to be flung off. His magnetic boots couldn't find a place to anchor to. Suddenly the entire synthoid sent out an electromagnetic pulse sending him crashing towards the grounds. He tried to extend his wings, but they must have been damaged by the pulse because he couldn't. He landed in a garbage dumpster that was sticking out of an ally. He crawled out and looked at himself in disgust.
"Terry! Are you okay? Answer me please!" Batgirl screamed over the communicator. He glanced up and had the cowl magnify his sight till he could see Batgirl. She was about sixty stories up still fighting the automaton. Pressing the link in his cowl he responded. "I'm okay Terra, I can't say the same for the suit. It's covered in filth. Just give me a second to clean up and I'll be back in action." He told her removing the last piece of filth from the suit.
Suddenly he became aware of a shadow encasing him and looked up. The synthoid had moved closer and was aiming one of its disrupters at him. He tried to activate his boots but they must have been clogged because nothing happened. "Target acquired. Fifteen seconds till complete destruction." The synthoid said in a voice that was eerily familiar. It sounded a lot like Kara's.
"Move Terry! Get out of its line of sight!" Batgirl screamed. In her heart she knew that it didn't matter. If that thing had a lock on her brother nothing was going to make it lose it. She watched in horror as the disrupter powered up and fired. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed in horror.
Batman was glued to the spot. He had no idea how he was going to survive this. "This is it. I'm going to die before I was even born." He thought grimly. He absent mindly touched his crystal necklace for comfort. Suddenly a gold aura surrounded him and at the last possible second he melted completely in with the shadows causing the disrupter blast to miss him by mere inches. He put a hand to his heart to stop the pounding. What had happened just now? He activated his link and called his sister. "Terra come in!"
"Terry? Terry your alive! But how I saw the disrupter blast. It completely destroyed everything." Batgirl asked him relief apparent.
"I don't know. Somehow I melted into the shadows causing the synthoid to lose its lock on me. I didn't even have to use camo mode. It was like I had the old man's ability to completely blend in with shadows. I'm coming up to help you." Batman said. He looked down at his crystal, which had returned to its normal blue color. "What did you do?" he wondered.
Inside the synthoid Green Lantern J. and Supergirl where having there own set of problems. There were traps everywhere and the built in defenses where hampering the progress. "This is ridiculous! Once we destroy one defenses system we just activate two more. Where never going to reach the power source at this rate." Supergirl complained.
"Yes we are. I have an idea. Remember how I told you I'm good at inventing things and dismantling them as well? Well what if use my powers to do this!" Green Lantern J. said waving his fingertips all over the place. Tools materialized all around them and began to dismantle every defense in sight. "Well you coming? My tools will stay without me." He said as they flew towards the power source.
"Have I mentioned I love having you on my side. Here we are the central power core. Crap, a six-inch thick duranium door protects the power source. Can you bust it down with your powers?" Supergirl inquired. He shook his head. "Way to thick. I think brute force is the only way were getting to the core."
"I'm not as strong as my dad and duranium is very durable. Still I'm going to try." Supergirl said. She placed her hands on the door and began trying to force them to open. She wasn't having any luck. "I'm not a weakling. I know I can do this. I can and will do this." She thought, "Still it would be easier if I was as strong as my dad." Suddenly her crystal lit up and its golden energy coursed through out her entire body. Filled with a new strength she easily flung open the doors. "Where in!"
"Wow how did you do that? I mean one minute you where struggling the next minute it was like slicing bread." Green Lantern commented as he entered the room and began creating bombs.
Supergirl shrugged and looked around the room surprised by what she saw. She have to tell the others. "I don't know what happened. I was just thinking that I needed to be as strong as my dad to open that door and suddenly my strength doubled till it was equal to my dad's. Come on lets move. Those explosives go off in twenty minutes and I don't want to be inside when they blow."
Flashboy was having a hard time distracting the synthoid. It seemed intent on squashing him or anything in its path. "Wonder Girl I've got it right where you want it. Use your lasso now." He called out.
"On it!" She called then she repeated the same maneuver her mother had done to those invaders walkers. She looped her lasso around its legs and flew a bit away. "Goddess give me strength!" she said invoking their power. She pulled tightly on the lasso hoping to send the synthoid crashing down. Instead the synthoid whirled around till her lasso came undone. She pulled it back and clipped it to her belt. She was considering her next move when she saw in horror a dozen missiles being launched at her. She flew high into the air and managed to destroy eleven of the missiles but the last one would not give up. It pursed her as she twisted all around the streets of Metropolis. Flashboy followed her intent on helping her. She was so intent on losing the missile she didn't notice the flagpole till she flew into it.
She fell like a stone to the ground. Flashboy caught her. "Athena! Are you okay?" he asked hurriedly examine her for injuries. Her eyes went wide as she looked past him. "Look out!" she screamed rolling over till she was on top shielding him. She hoped her armor would protect them. "What I really need is a gigantic shield." She thought as the missile beared down. The last possible moment before oblivion a golden force field appeared around the two heroes. The missile exploded on impact but neither of them was harmed at all. Both of them stared at each other in amazement. What had happened?
Hawklady was using every trick she had ever learned about flying to avoid being hit by the numerous weapons fire. Energy blast, lasers, missiles, and all sorts of other advance technology kept trying to take her out. The wings on the back of the thing had even detached themselves and had become two whirling blades of death. Martian Boyhunter had forced the two of them to crash into one another. "I hope Green Lantern J. and Supergirl were able to complete their mission because honestly I don't see how were going to take out all of the weapons." She told him over her communicator.
"We have to keep trying. Those weapons are very deadly and if we don't manage to get rid of them a lot of innocent people could die." Martian Boyhunter replied. He was hovering a few feet away from her. Suddenly his orange eyes lit up in horror as a massive energy beam shot out from the synthoid's eyes heading straight for Hawklady! "Watch out!" he shouted shoving her out of the way and taking the full blast on his right shoulder. He cried out in pain and plummeted towards the ground.
Hawklady watched in horror as he hit the street and didn't give up. She whirled around and charged her staff. She then let out a Thanagerian war cry and flew straight at the eyes. When she was near enough she let loose the energy taking out its eyes. She then dove down to the streets to check on Martian Boyhunter. She landed next to him and began to examine him. "Lie still you've been seriously hurt. Man this looks bad. It's definitely a third degree burn. I don't have anything to treat this. You need to get to a hospital right now!" As she propped him up his crystal tip touched the injured area and it glowed gold for a second. Both stared in disbelief as the burn just disappeared like it never been there.
"Okay that was just plain freaky." Martian Boyhunter said.
Back on the rooftop Mystic Robin and Aquagirl where having little success against there opponent. She seemed to be able to intercept every move they made. They were seriously getting their butts kicked. "Come on now I thought that you two were going to give me a challenge. This is way to easy. No wonder you're the weakest members. I mean look at you miss magic and not a clue how to handle your powers. You're to dependent on your technology if you ask me and not enough on your own powers. Then there's you Princess. You really have no clue how to battle on dry land. Pathetic the both of you." Their assailant mocked them.
"Don't count us out yet! I may be a computer geek, but I read enough books on magic to whip your sorry ass. Aquagirl be ready to attack on my signal got it?" Mystic Robin asked. Aquagirl nodded ready for anything. Their assailant just looked at them amused.
Mystic Robin levitated into the sky and spread her hands wide. Purple lights surrounded her as she invoked her magic. "Perception disorientacious. Psychic confusion, illusion delusioness!" she shouted. The purple lights hit the women causing her to mentally confused and unable to properly see her surroundings. She was also caught in an illusion. She was half crazed by what was happening to her.
Aquagirl focused all her power on her target and let loose a sonic burst sending the women crashing into the ventilation system. She used the water to snag the remote and bring it to her. "Looks like we won and you lost." She said.
The women smiled at the two girls evilly. "Have you? I go check on your friends if I where you." She suggested pressing a button on her wrist. The remote was vaporized instantly at the same time they heard an explosion. They turned around just in time to see the giant synthoid topple over. "This isn't over yet girls. The game has just begun. See you round." She told them evilly and then zoomed away. Mystic Robin wanted to pursue her, but Aquagirl grabbed her wrist. "No, we have to check on the rest of our friends. Something smells fishy and I guarantee you it isn't me." Turning they hurried back to their friends.
The teenagers were examing the remains of the synthoid amazed that they had actually pulled it off. There momentary success made them temporarily forget about the strange occurrence by their crystals. And what they discovered among the remains shocked them more.
"Lucas and I noticed this stuff when we were inside the thing. Yeah most of the computers where there for running the thing but the rest controlled all of this scientific equipment." Kara said pointing to the remains of what looked like a sensor array.
"Sensors arrays, scanning devices, measuring devices. This stuff ran through out the entire synthoid's body. It was testing us. Seeing what we were capable of." Lucas commented.
"But for what purpose would someone be recording us?" Terra asked.
"I don't know but it was transmitting the data to some place else. Someone went to a lot of trouble to obtain information on us." Gordon said darkly.
"This whole thing was a set up. A huge experiment where we were used as lab rats. But to what ends and who was the scientist?" J'osse asked
"I can't tell you what it was for but I can answer the person controlling the synthoid was a lady in black. Hi guys. Like my costume? My name is Mystic Robin and Marina there is Aquagirl." Max said appearing.
"The person who was controlling that thing wasn't even fazed when it was destroyed. She kept hinting that there was more to this then the eye could see. Like it was some kind of game." Marina added.
"A game were the pieces and somebody is yanking us around. I don't like this. This synthoid must hold more clues. I say we examine it closer." Athena suggested.
They were approaching the main computer when Terry held up a hand. His suit was picking up a cluster of energy particles. "Everyone get clear its going to self destruct!" he shouted. Everyone ran for cover managing to get out of the way just in time. Once the smoke cleared they saw there was nothing left of the synthoid except a huge crater in the street. "Everyone okay?" he asked and he got murmured yeses. "Clearly someone didn't want us learning anything about our mysterious assailants."
"Guys something doesn't feel right. What if that thing was more then just bait to lure us out into the open? More than a tool used to test us. What if it was a distraction to lure us away from the real target?" Shania asked anxiously.
The kids raced back to the Javelin 7 hoping against hope that when they got there their parents would be waiting for them safe and sound. No such luck. What they found were signs of a struggle and a note that read, " We just made our move. We've got what's most important to you in the entire world. If you want to see your parents alive you have twenty four hours to use your brains and brawns to find us and rescue them. Otherwise they die. Your move."
