Advancing Forward

If Diana didn't know any better, she would have thought Steve and A.R.G.U.S were being sincere.

Unlike the abrupt hallway meeting, the Amazon found herself seated at a table in an empty cafeteria. According to Steve, this was a dead period for the cafeteria, though there were usually a few people snacking, or surfing the web. All had been cleared, including the kitchen staff, to empty the room completely. The doors were locked, so there was little chance of anyone entering.

Naturally, there had to be bugs all over the place. No way would government officials not observe a meeting between themselves and the Justice League.

Seated on the other side of the table was Steve, who looked tired. His clothes were impeccably immaculate, like he usually kept them, but some of his hair was out of its normally combed style, giving him a slightly disheveled look. "Hey, Diana," he greeted her warmly.

Again, it stood in stark contrast to their first meeting. "You look tired, Steven," she returned, allowing some of her concern to show in her voice.

Steve sighed, his shoulders shrugging. "It's been a busy few days. I've got directors and secretaries and politicians demanding answers I simply don't have. I don't think they appreciate just what we're doing."

"And what's that?"

"Investigating the robots, much like what you'd be doing if you had one, I suppose. These things are incredibly advanced. It's not like anything I've ever seen."

So that meant A.R.G.U.S. was trailing behind the League's investigation. "What can we do to help?"

"Not much unless you have a computer system that can figure out the coded software. It's absurdly short from what I've been told."

Diana did not need Batman's voice in her head to know she should decline, or at the very least play dumb. Both conflicted with her honest and upfront natural, so finding something that was both truthful yet gave nothing away took a little effort. "I don't know how advanced your computer systems are. For all we know, they could be the same as the ones on the Watchtower, so we'd may make as much headway as you have."

"But you do have other ways of looking at things," Steven countered. "You've got a few aliens on your team, so maybe they might recognize the software codes. It's at least worth a try."

That was a good point, though the Amazon knew their interstellar comrades knew little more than what most of the men working with Steve would. "I suppose I could deliver a copy of the code if you get—"

Like magic, Steve pulled out a flash drive and placed it on the table between them. "This has all of the research our team has managed to collect. Good luck with it."

That was...so sudden. It was almost as if Steve had been trying to steer the conversation this way. Diana wondered why. Looking at the flash drive, she then reached out and accepted it, picking up and placing it closer to her on the table. "I'll let you know what we find out. Is there anything else I need to know about?"

Steve shrugged. "Not that I know of. I just know that if we crack this code, we can learn so much about these things. I literally have computer experts dying to get an interpretation. We might even be able to create a countermeasure against them if they decide to show up again."

That wasn't a bad idea, which made Diana wonder if perhaps the League should share their findings. Obviously not right now since it was quite apparent Steve—and thus A.R.G.U.S.—did not know of the probe that Flash managed to obtain. They could take a couple days and then relay their findings. It was something to bring up to the rest of the League once she met up with them.

"So...Diana," Steve suddenly spoke, his tone different from the official one had been using thus far. "I have to ask this, just between friends. Completely off the record."

The dark-haired woman nodded. "What is it?"

"Are you part of that Power Couple thing with Superman?"

Power Couple? What was—oh. Immediately, Diana frowned, sighing her frustration soon after. "I wish the media would just drop that," she groused.

A bemused look appeared on the blond man's face. "That's a no, I take it."

"That's correct. I never should have gone to the party with him. Ever since, everyone seems to think we are doing ungodly things on the Watchtower."

Steve chuckled. "You're telling me. Why did you two go to that party, if you don't mind my asking?"

Well, it had been such a long time and Steve was a friend. Diana couldn't see any reason to not tell him, of course keeping certain parts of the story confidential. He didn't need to know everything. "As you're aware, it was just before the Kalanorian Invasion. The League was conducting an investigation and had sent one of our own to discover a connection between a supply of weapons and the party's host."

Steve blinked his eyes. "Frederick Dorsey was an arms dealer?"

"An unwitting one, as it turned out. The Kalanorian's were using their telepathy to brainwash him. Anyways, we sent in an investigator who was...rude about conducting the investigation their way. I'm afraid that rubbed me the wrong way and so I took Superman with me to prove them wrong."

Her friend's eyes widened. "You...forced...your way into an investigation?"

A sheepish look appeared on her face. "More like I blew it. He ripped into me afterwards and I have to admit I was in the wrong."

That caused Steve's eyes to narrow. "He…" he murmured. "I'm going to assume it was Batman."

For a moment, Diana wondered if perhaps she had revealed too much. "Why do you say Batman?" she asked guardedly.

"It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that just about every government agency, here and foreign, keeps an eye on Justice League activities," he explained. "That includes all members, at least what we can uncover anyways. There's the usual stuff, like Superman and you being incredible strong and Green Lantern's power ring being powered by will. A toddler knows that stuff. Most of it is just to determine if you're a threat to the country. As far as Batman is concerned, he does have the reputation for being the World's Greatest Detective. Logically, he'd be your investigator."

That made sense, though Diana was perturbed to know the U.S. government was keeping tabs on them. That was definitely something to tell the others. "Is there anything else we need to discuss?" she asked, steering the conversation back to the original topic.

Steve stared at her before he suddenly looked over his shoulder. Then he leaned towards her. "This is still off the record," he whispered lowly. "I haven't been given the go-ahead to tell you this, but it might help your side of things. There's a missing robot and A.R.G.U.S. has been looking under every tree and stone to find it. We know it exists because we did a count the moment we collected the robots and now one's gone."

Gone? Diana was frowning again. "Do you think someone stole it?"

"That's the only reasonable conclusion I can think of. If I were you, I'd keep your eyes open for it. There's no telling who has it, or what they intend to do with it."

She nodded her understanding. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Don't go blabbing about this to everyone, okay? I don't need my bosses getting wind of this and coming after me."

"You have my word. Thank you for your time, Steven."

A small smile appeared on his face. "It was good to see you again, Diana. Truly."

There were a few strikes of keys on the touchscreen monitor. Every finger touch caused the touched key to light up, dimming only when the next key was touched.

Looking from the screen, J'onn stared at the probe, waiting a moment until the robot raised up its right arm.

It seemed his constant study was beginning to pay dividends. Thanks to the Fortress of Solitude's database, he had a full interpretation of the probe's software and inner workings. Currently he was inputting commands, ones that were delivered from the computer to the probe via cables connecting the two. He hadn't tested the weapon systems as of yet, mostly because he did not want to cause any damage to this place.

Inputting another command into the computer, he watched as the robot lowered its right arm back to its side on the table, then saw it raise its left leg, bent at the knee.

Glancing to another computer monitor, he saw line after line of the alien code appear, writing itself from left to right in its foreign symbols. A few seconds went by before it ended. So far, the Martian was getting the hang of this. He was beginning to see commonalities in the usage of each symbol with the various actions he ordered.

Feasibly, he could create a computer virus that could incapacitate the probes when a certain line of code was processed. It was a standard viral payload cyber security forces on Mars used with which he was familiar. Though he was proud of his people's accomplishments, they were just as susceptible to feelings of greed and deception. Some had turned to criminal activities rather than helped with the advancement of their society, thus the need for security measures.

The virus would most likely be their best weapon; however, the introduction of that virus to Brainiac's probes was an issue. Though he needed confirmation and that would require a closer look to the robot's security systems and anti-virus programs, he was certain these probes would identify malicious software upon download and either avoid it or delete it. Infecting Earth's cybersecurity network with the virus waiting for download was most likely infeasible. A download from Brainiac's main computer, which controlled the probes would be a better tactic.

Regardless, it was a project that could be worked on simultaneously as others. Looking to yet another computer monitor, J'onn paused its current activity, inputting a command for a list of results. On the screen were digital images, one of which was a Brainiac probe and the other a weapon designed with the sole purpose to defeat said probe. The animation halted as the probe was being flung backwards, though there were no visible signs of damage.

A new window appeared, a series of letters and numbers appearing. As J'onn had been experimenting with the probe, he had the Fortress' computers running simulations with various weapons, tactics, and other means of disabling or destroying the probes. With the known perimeters of the robot's design and construction, multiple ideas had been entered and tested.

Predictably, most Earth weapons were useless. Gunpowder-based weapons like guns were ineffective, the same with grenades. Missiles were slightly more effective, but it required a significant barrage as the probe had the ability to shoot down the missiles before they reached it.

A nuclear bomb did have the explosive capacity to destroy the probe, something J'onn expected, but the fallout was too much of a price. The virus he suspected was their best option played out like he expected, rendering the robot deactivated in every scenario.

Next was an electromagnetic pulse, which also had a good success rate. If he could design a weapon that could direct the EMP, then he could minimize the damage to the surrounding area when the used it against the probes. A laser with a high enough heat output was able to cut through the exterior as well. Perhaps that could be used in aerial combat to minimize damage to infrastructure on the ground.

Though J'onn wasn't fond of the destructive nature of the weapons, there was a least a say in minimizing the damage they could cause. While he was unsure if the Fortress of Solitude had a manufacturing facility here, bringing his countermeasures to the League could help facilitate their construction. Other countermeasures could be brainstormed as well, things he had not considered himself.

Looking away from the monitor, he returned his attention to the probe. Staring at it, he then walked over to it, coming to stand at its leg. Reaching with one hand, he wrapped his hand around the appendage and began squeezing. Every passing second he increased his strength until he began to feel the metal give and bend beneath his palm.

Letting go, he saw a slight indentation in the leg. That had taken quite a bit of strength—not all of his strength, but a considerable amount. It was then possible that someone like Superman, Wonder Woman, or himself, with superstrength to physically break them. They just had to hit them without holding back.

He did not foresee that being an issue since these probes were not living creatures.

With that done, he then turned his attention to the software. It was time to further examine its security system and detect other weaknesses, not to mention checking if a virus of his design would work.

There was something different about this city. It wasn't as dark as Gotham nor as brilliant as Metropolis. It wasn't as blue-collar as Central City nor upscale as Gateway. It was...dare he say, youthful? Promising?

Batman wasn't sure if he liked it.

Oh, there was crime to be sure, just like any other city. Already he had put down a couple robbery attempts with no one being the wiser—a shuriken to the temple knocked the robbers out quickly. However, there was something else about this city that the blue-blood in him disapproved of. Yes, that had to be it. He was from old money and this was a city of new money.

So the sooner he left Jump City, the better.

It had been a long shot, but he had gone to see Oracle to see if there was anything she had found out about the Brainiac attacks. Predictably, she had been in a meltdown as her computer systems had been rapidly and successfully hacked. The poor girl didn't know where to start to fix the damage.

So he had stayed to help her get back on her feet—so to speak. Oracle had proven to be a dead end in that regard, but a passing remark had alerted him to another potential source of information. She had used her connection to set up a meeting, which led the vigilante to this burgeoning city.

Hopefully the welcoming committee would be small. The last time he had met with these people had been...less than cordial. He wouldn't put it past any of them to try and throw his own words back at him, not that it would work. He also wouldn't put it past a couple of them to fawn over him, which was irritating to no end.

Perched on top of a building, Batman gazed out to a visible clocktower, one that indicated it was getting close to time. Turning his attention to the rest of the city, he listened as the sounds of traffic filled the evening air.

They were here.

He felt their presence immediately. There were...two sets of footsteps behind him. That was a small mercy gratefully accepted. At least, there were only two that were willing to make their presence known. Quickly, he began to study the surrounding buildings. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility the others were positioning themselves around this designated place.

The footsteps came to an end. Straightening out his posture, he then turned around to regard Red Robin and Starfire. The younger male seemed more relaxed than the last time he saw him—no small part of that was his warnings to leave Gotham under threat of harm. As for the Tamaranean, she was just as vapid-looking as ever.

"Red Robin, Starfire," he greeted them.

"Greetings, respectable Batman," Starfire immediately returned, performing what appeared to be a curtsey in spite of the purple skin tight material she wore. "I was most surprised and joyous to learn you wished a meeting between us."

"Uhh, what she said," Red Robin added awkwardly. "Umm, Oracle said you had something you wanted to speak to Starfire about and that it was, uhh, important."

Batman nodded. "You have heard of the worldwide cyberattacks, correct?"

"Are you talking about those robot things? Cyborg and Beast Boy were going nuts about one of them," the former Gotham native replied.

"The same. We have discovered they are alien in origin, which is why I wanted to speak to Starfire." He then turned his attention to the Tamaranian. "What do you know of Brainiac?"

Immediately, the redhead stiffened. "Where did you hear of this word?" she demanded.

That was an interesting reaction. "That was a name the Justice League managed to get from one of those robots."

The Tamaranian began to speak in an indecipherable language, most likely her native tongue. Batman got the impression those were not good words. "I apologize for my poor vocabulary and breach of communication etiquette," she spoke after a while, clearly flustered, but retaining her odd way of speaking. "It is just...that word...it is very much a word of curse among many peoples."

"Care to explain?" he prodded.

Starfire seemed quiet for a moment. "I am unaware of the exact origins of that word, but I do remember my Gordanian captors speaking of it with much apprehension. There was one story I heard only one time. Again, I am uncertain to the specific details, but the Citadel was in a conflict with another planet, which I believe they intended on conquering. I also understood that the planet was in possession of the Kalanorian Empire, so it may have been a new conflict between them. Then during their most exhausting campaign, one of the local civilizations they were attacking was destroyed. I do not know how and I always assumed it was some sort of Psion weapon, but my captors were certain they were not the cause for the devastation. Reinforcements were sent to the planet from the Citadel homeworld to investigate and swiftly crush any prolonged resistance from the local populous.

"That is when they spoke of a ship of mystery. It ignored all communications with the Citadel and they launched an offensive against it. They said the ship was impervious to their attacks. Then it with purpose destroyed the planet they were in hostilities over. The explosion annihilated the entire Citadel force."

"Whoa," Red Robin gasped. "Would it be safe to say the Kalanorians didn't have any luck against this Brainiac thing too?"

Starfire considered that question. "I would assume that is to be so. The Kalanorians have not been as powerful as they were under the rule of Despero. I believe the Gordanians had reason to believe their leader was on that planet and wished to procure him."

Procure? The Gordanians wanted Despero? "Why would the Gordanians want Despero?" Batman couldn't help but ask.

"Because he is Despero," Starfire answered as if that explained everything. Upon seeing his blank stare, she...returned his look with her own blank stare.

"I think you're going to have to explain that one," Red Robin said quietly after awhile.

"Do you not know who Despero was?" Starfire asked as she looked at her shorter comrade.

"He was an alien conqueror that tried to take over Earth," Batman replied. "That's all anyone knows here."

Starfire returned her attention to him, though her green eyes were wide with child-like wonder. "Would you like me to regale you with the menace that was Despero?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

The Tamaranian straightened out her posture. "Despero was more than a conqueror as you put it; he was a natural force of destruction and despair. The universe shook with terror and was in great peril until this planet mysteriously deposed him. None know what secret weapon, or creature was able to do so, but all planets tread carefully in this quadrant of space."

Batman couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. Other alien races avoided Earth? That was rather surprising. Well, at least until Brainiac in any case. "Do you know what happened to Despero after his defeat here?"

The redhead shook her head. "No one knows except for the Kalanorians. It is said they are keeping him in hiding. The Citadel is most keen on finding him, wherever he may be."

It didn't take much imagination to know why this Citadel—whatever that was—wanted Despero. If his place in the hierarchy of space was to be believed, he was a prize, something that could be used to firmly crush what remained of the Kalanorian people, or used to control them. They, of course, would want to prevent that. In any case, it kept those hostile forced away from Earth and he was content with that.

However, that Brainiac could take on not one, but two of those powerful forces at once, and then wipe them out by destroying the very planet they fought on, then Brainiac was not one to underestimate. Earth needed a way to defend itself and it did not have much time to prepare. At the very least, he had a sense of how this Brainiac worked. It went in, obtained whatever it was it wanted, and then destroyed the evidence. Destroying a city seemed odd, but that was part of a pattern that was emerging.

It seemed it was time to return to the Fortress of Solitude.

Superman had returned to his Fortress, Pa's words still in his head. The old farmer had told him to do whatever he had to do and to do it because it was right. It was his decision what he chose to do, and one of the people he cared about the most had admitted that this area was one in which they would do little to stop him.

As the Kryptonian wandered down the halls, taking a look through the zoo portion, and completing the chore of feeding the extraterrestrials, he thought long and hard about what he wanted to do and compared it to what he should do.

What he wanted to do was prevent this next disaster, before it could reach his home and threaten everything he cared about. Right here was a rare opportunity of knowing about it ahead of time, and with the right actions taken, he could stop it from becoming fulfilled. On the other hand, what if he went in the wrong direction and that threat arrived and met its deadly promise? Sure, that was something that could be rectified by getting the Fortress' computer to reverse the probe transmission, but space travel was fraught with an incredible amount of complexity that humanity was only just starting to make calculations for.

Again, the Fortress' computer could more than compensate; his upbringing was influencing his thought process a lot more than he ever realized. The answers to most of his problems, or whatever he could bring up as a possible reason to stay here and wait were being put down one by one by logical reasoning. Had he grown up on Krypton, would he had a different way of looking at problems and coming up with solutions?

The longer he debated his course of actions, the more obvious it would become. There was no reason to not go out there and find Brainiac.

The Fortress had a hanger of sorts, one to store his own spacefaring ship whenever he needed to go off world to help with a problem. Sometimes that problem would mean saving the Earth from an interstellar threat, like a meteor or an asteroid. If he recalled correctly, he was currently the United States' first line of defense when it came to protecting the planet from flying rocks in space, some the size of Nebraska. Other occasions to use the ship were to help with S.T.A.R. Labs and any research they were doing that required a more hands on approach.

Sometimes the ship was used to chase after an alien threat that had withdrew after taking enough damage, sometimes to lure said threat away, and sometimes—and Flash could never know about this—it was used to, ahem, take a joyride out into the universe. It was to clear his head when even the solitude of the arctic was unable to help and for nothing else.

This time...this time would be different. It didn't take a lot of effort to have the Fortress' computer do what he needed, reverse-engineering what he needed to prepare the space vessel for its latest mission. It was poetic, in a way, as this very ship was the same one that his father, Jor-El had placed him in decades ago, and that Pa kept in the barn covered under a tarp. Now it would come full circle to find the thing that had set everything into motion and hopefully put an end to this chapter.

Even though J'onn was in the Fortress, he was too busy and polite to check the Kryptonian's thoughts, and this was taken advantage of though Superman did not like the feeling it gave him. It was as if he was deceiving the others in a way, going ahead with a plan a good number of the League and shot down. It couldn't and wouldn't wait, not any longer.

He had to hand it to Kryptonian technology; after having to use what humanity was able to deliver on a consumer basis, something as advanced as this was practically a godsend. Something that would have taken days or weeks, months, and even years to accomplish were finished within a few hours. Night in the arctic was over by the time all preparations for the ship were complete.

That left taking care of other matters, Earth-related all of them. The first was calling into the Planet to use some sick leave and vacation time if his reported illness hadn't gone away by the time his sick days were up. Perry wasn't happy about that, but that was life and he better be able to make it up to the editor when he got back. Word from the man would reach Lois and Jimmy, and anyone else that were looking for him.

One issue that was a bit frustrating was Metropolis; who would look over it while he was away? He could ask one of the other Leaguers, but that would give away what he was planning to do. They may try to stop him or worse, insist on coming with him.

Not this time. This was something he needed to face himself. There was no need to drag anyone else with him. Hopefully, and predictably, the rest of the League would figure it out and do something about keeping an eye on his city. There were still threats to it, both from outside of it and inside. Every day he wasn't there would give people like Luthor time to come up with some new scheme and he wouldn't be there to stop any of it.

There was no time, though. Metropolis would have to continue standing like it had long before he came onto the scene. The Kryptonian would have to trust in his fellow man to make sure nothing would happen to it, much as he wanted to stay and keep protecting the city that was near and dear to his heart, a third home if you would.

In a way, he would be protecting it. By protecting Earth, he would be protecting Metropolis, and to do that he would need to find and stop Brainiac.

Sighing, Superman glanced around at the small hanger, taking in the sight of it as well as searching for anyone that might be nearby. Seeing no one, he spoke aloud, "Prepare shuttle for launch."

Author's note: To sum it all up, would-be alien conquerors and despots are a superstitious and cowardly lot.