Chapter 3

Task

After slipping back into her room and finally falling asleep, Cody was woken up by someone shaking her. Instinctively, Cody shot up out of bed, grabbing the person shaking her and shoved them face first into the wall. She had their arm forced behind their back and if they made one wrong movie, she could dislocate their arm with one easy pull.

"Cody! Cody, it's me!" the person yelled.

Once the girl came to more, she realized who it was and let go, taking a step back. She ran a hand through her long brown hair and sighed. "Sorry, Lucas. You know you shouldn't wake me like that. I could've really hurt you."

"Like that didn't hurt enough?" he retorted, rolling his shoulder. "This is what I get for working with assassins."

"I'm not an assassin," Cody corrected.

"Whatever!" The girl could tell that he was annoyed. She didn't know if that was because of what she had just done or if it was something else completely. She was sure she'd find out though.

"Is something wrong, Lucas?" she asked. She turned away and went to her dresser to pull out a set of her black uniforms. "You normally don't come into my room. Last time you were in here was right after the experiment and I woke up with my bed on fire; with me still in it."

"Master's not happy," Lucas informed her. "He's ordering a mandatory meeting of the Elite Eight."

"So the plan worked?" Cody asked.

"It went perfectly," he replied with a nervous smile. "A small team of heroes intercepted the transport and took possession of the Egyptian Dagger. They also took the members into custody."

"That's great," the girl exclaimed.

"We've got to get going though," he stated. "Master won't tolerate tardiness."

As Lucas started to exit the room, Cody remembered the events of the night before and quickly stated, "Oh, I have important information to tell you, but that can wait until tonight."

"All right," he said. "Just hurry up and get ready."

Lucas wasn't the most sociable of people that Cody had ever met. He was one of those people who were so great at what they did – his being science – that that was one of the only things he was really good at. He was a very smart and sweet man, but he didn't know how to talk to people. Cody didn't mind that though, and ever since she started to talk and work with him on their "project," he had gotten a lot better, though he was still rather awkward and would rather spend time in the lab than with people.

Once Cody was done changing, she headed out of her room and went to meet up with Master and the others. She was one of the first people there. She assumed once Master told Lucas to get her that he ran to her room as fast as he could. He was horribly afraid of the man, as he should be. Cody was, but that didn't stop her from going against him, as she was doing. Somehow, though Cody wasn't really sure of how, she had convinced Lucas to work with her, seeing his find heart.

Not too much longer after Cody arrived had the others started to pile into the room. They all knelt before their Master, their heads bowed waiting for him to give them approval to sit up. It took quite a while for him to do so. Cody assumed that making them wait and bow at his command made him feel more in control and more powerful. And seeing as he was angry about the interception, he needed to feel in command and in control.

Cody felt a pang of amusement and excitement being the one to have helped cause the situation of making him feel out of command.

"Rise," Master commanded and the Elite Eight sat up, looking at him confused. "This morning, during the transport of the Egyptian Dagger, a small squad of young heroes intercepted my precious artifact and confiscated it, taking my personnel into custody."

Yes, yes they did. Thank you very much! Cody remained silent with a look of shock and confusion on her face.

"What are you going to do to counter, Master?" Paul asked, sucking up to the Master.

"For the time being we are to do nothing," he answered.

Well, that wasn't what I expected, but I'll take it! Cody thought.

"We have a new mission at hand," he stated. "One that involves something much more precious and valuable than a mere relic," Master went on.

"Master, what is it? Money?" Jared asked.

"Money is disposable," Master stated. "I have no need of stealing more when I have an incoming source that supplies even our most expensive project, treating them like dollar store crafts."

Cody was surprise he even knew what a dollar store was.

"Gold?" Sam asked.

"Jewels?" Noah asked.

"No, nothing of the sort," Master stated.

"Women to do anything and everything we want them to?" Rich muttered to Erik.

Sexist pig.

"You all think of material goods and ecstasy, when you should be thinking of the cause," Master said.

Thinking of the cause? What cause? The cause to bring forth havoc and chaos to the world? Isn't that supposed to be Klarion's job? Cody had no idea what the cause was, but she did know one that that Master always would say. It was something about material goods distracting the mind, which she had to admit, was very true. But there was also something to do with allies and having more people working with them to make things work smoothing towards the task at hand – which she assumed was the "cause" in this situation.

It was then that Cody got it. "It's a person," Cody stated. Everyone turned to look at the usually silent girl. "You're talking about recruiting another member, aren't you, Master?"

"That is correct, my girl," he said with a smile.

I'm not your girl and I swear that if you call me that one more time I'll –

"How valuable is this person, Master?" Shawn asked, surprising everyone, even Cody. He never spoke in front of Master. Never.

"Oh, very useful indeed," Master stated. "Rich, you're very familiar with this person."

"Really?" he asked. "Who is it?"

"Can't you guess?" Master asked.

Always with the guessing games. Cody fought the urge to roll her eyes. Why do the villains either always love guessing games or stating their motive before they kill the hero? It made no sense at all. If they didn't do that, then they most likely would actually get something accomplished.

"Not really," Rich stated. "The only person I can think of that could be any use to us at all, fighting wise, is my sister."

Everyone stared at him for a moment. Is he really that stupid? That time, Cody really did roll her eyes. Of course he was talking about him sister! Who else would he be talking about? Now, Cody never would have been able to guess that they had been talking about his sister, but when he said that, Cody obviously knew. Rich was just too dumb to realize that, even after stating so, Master was talking about his little sister.

"Oh," he then realized. "Oh, this'll be fun."

"I thought you said that your sister's been missing for several years," Erik asked. "She ran away or something."
If I had Rich as a brother, I'd run away too.

"Your sister has been spotted on the east coast, traveling with a band of misfits," Master stated.

Cody didn't know what he meant when he said misfits because really, they weren't much better. But she shrugged that thought away and continued to listen to what everybody was discussing. She needed to know everything that was going on in order to relay it all to Nightwing when she went to drop everything off at his apartment. That and she needed to know it all for the mission that Master would be sending them on.

"When are they joining us?" Sam asked.

"We'll be collecting them shortly, a few days," Master informed them.

"How old is she?" Noah asked, his voice hinting to something other than just curiosity.

You're such a pervert.

"She's, like twelve now or something," Rich muttered.

"Fifteen," Master corrected.

That's not much better, Cody thought. That poor child. She has no idea what's coming. She ran away for a reason and now she's got more than Rich coming after her. The thought of that poor girl getting forced into the position Cody was in made her feel sick. I have to stop this. I'm not going to let what happened to me happen to that girl.

"That is all for now," Master stated. "You are dismissed."

The Elite Eight bowed once more before getting up and going off in their own ways. Noah, Jared and Sam went off one way. Erik and Rich another. Paul, Shawn and Cody went off on their lonesome. Despite being able to work fairly well together, they never did anything together. Nor did they even really like one another. Cody didn't mind Shawn so much. And she could tolerate Sam and Paul, but the rest of them she couldn't stand to be around. And even with Sam and Paul, she didn't like being with them. Paul was too much of a know-it-all. He always had to prove his other team members wrong. While Sam was just too, well, annoying for a lack of a better word.

Lucas found Cody before she could find him. It seemed as if he had been waiting for her to talk about whatever it was Cody had to tell him about the night before. He was a very antsy and nervous person. If Cody told him that she had to tell him something later, it would bug him to the ends of Earth until he found out what it was that she had to tell him. He'd worry himself to almost having an anxiety attack.

Once Cody and Lucas were back in the girl's room, they sat down. Cody was sitting on her bed, her back to the wall and facing the older man. Lucas had sat down in the desk chair. He turned it to face the girl. His leg was bouncing up and down while his fingers were tapping on the top of his knee.

"Lucas, you need to calm down," Cody stated.

"Calm down? Calm down?" Lucas almost yelled. He realized how loud be was getting and settled down a little. When he continued on, his voice was just over a whisper. "I'm at risk of getting cause, just as much as you are. I don't want to die, okay? I haven't even gotten married nor had kids. Not that I want kids. They're sticky and make too much noise."

"I love kids," Cody said, sounding rather relaxed. It was then that she remembered the conversation that she and Kaldur had back when she was with them about kids. "I love the names Clara and Seth."

Lucas disregarded her comment and continued on his rant. "That's not the point. I'd rather have the opportunity to have them. Here I can't. And if I'm dead I can't. I want to meet a girl and have a normal, boring relationship. No more of this excitement or mystery or danger."

"When this is all over, and when you and me get out of this mess, you're getting a position at my company. You'll be in R&D or Applied Sciences. You'll be able to meet a normal girl and have a normal relationship and a normal life," Cody promised. "I swear on my life, Lucas. I won't let anything happen to you because of what you're doing for me."

"You can't promise me that," Lucas sighed. "There's no way of you knowing that you'll be able to do all of that."

"Lucas, have I ever lied to you before?" she asked.

"No," he stated.

"Have I ever led you to believe that you couldn't trust me?" Cody then asked.

"Well, no," he replied.

"And have I ever not followed through with anything I've promised you?"

"I see where you're going with this and it's not going to work," he stated. "There is no way of you knowing the future."
"No, there isn't, but there is me knowing something that I'm following through with. I promise you that you'll get out of this alive and I'm going to make that happen. That'll happen whether it kills me or not. I'll make it happen."

"Why would you do that for someone like me? I'm the one that conducted the experiment on you," Lucas said.

"I know that," Cody said. "And I can't care. You were ordered to do so. You were afraid of saying no because you knew what Master would do to you if you did. Lucas, you're a good guy. I can see that. And you deserve to be able to right your mistakes. That's what we're doing."

"You're too good for your own wellbeing, you know that?" Lucas stated.

"I wouldn't say that," Cody said. "I've hurt a lot of people in my life and I'm not even that old."

"It's not your fault," Lucas said. "You didn't intentionally hurt them. Things happen that you can't control."

"I'd like to think that I'd be able to at least be there for someone though," Cody said. "But change in topic," she stated. "You'll never guess who I ran into last night."

"No, I won't, so you'll have to just tell me," Lucas stated, shifting in his seat.

"Nightwing and Robin," she stated just loud enough for Lucas to hear.

"No," Lucas gasped. "What happened?"

"I bawled like a baby."

"You didn't talk to them?" he asked, shocked.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "If I did, it would have ruined everything we've been working for. So I couldn't do it."

"I'm sorry," he said. "That must have been hard."

"Mhm."

"The next mission is a new recruit, isn't it?" he asked, changing the subject completely. "Master's having us prepare all of the stuff for the experiment. They're going to put her through it too."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Cody said. "I'm not going to let that poor girl go through what I did."

"What do you have planned?" Lucas asked.

"You'll see," she said, leaving him in the dark. If things went as she planned, it was best for him not to know. It kept him out of trouble and her plan was safer without him knowing.

It was risky even if it worked or not. She just hoped that her plan worked. Even then, Cody had no idea how she was going to be able to save the girl from the fate Cody had.