Sorry, sorry! Believe it or not this chapter and the next were supposed to be out Last Friday (I decided on the definite updating schedule last Monday) but had some major laptop issues that needed to be resolved. Add uni to that and there's a recipe for disaster right there! Again, please excuse me, but from now on expect two chapters every Friday unless stated otherwise. Enjoy!

Thanks for following and reviewing guys, it was a nice surprise and it made me so happy!

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Chapter 2: Decisions

WAYNE TECH

SEPTEMBER 03, 11:02 EST

A few minutes after Seble had left the room Dick's face fell from his usual smiling façade and he frowned, hard. Did that actually really happen? Had Bruce kept him out of the loop,yet again, despite him being the one who asked Dick to be a part of this case!?

"Bruce mind telling me what's going on in your head? There was a plan, a clearly laid out, perfectly good, plan that we had, just 30 minutes ago, come up together and what did you do? You threw it all away without letting me know, again," he veritably exploded in a flurry of motion, hands flying every which way, showing his resentment at having his opinion so belittled once again by the older man. "Could we, please, have one case where you don't completely blind-side me and do whatever you like?"

"Apologies Dick, but this new information came to light a few minutes ago and frankly I felt that it took precedence over our 'mole' situation. Child labor laws are, as you should know, handled very strictly in Gotham, especially if in connection with powerful corporations such as Wayne Enterprises," he turned away from the still fuming boy and rested his head on his hand. Really, he shouldn't even have to explain this, it was obvious. "I can't let anything else go wrong here Dick, It was essential I removed her immediately, I can't afford a lawsuit."

"But what of-"

Bruce held out a hand, causing him to shut his mouth mid-sentence. "I will handle that aspect myself Dick, do not worry. I know it is important to find out what she knows on the lab 16 mole topic, but it is even more crucial to get her out of there should matters get worse and no," again he had to stop Dick from jumping in, who now half stood from his chair, an indignant look on his face. "I do not think she is directly involved in all this, but she is still quite young and without fully understanding the threat level and the parties involved it would be unwise to keep her there, especially knowing what I know now. And you protest too much Dick, is the girls safety not an issue here? Keeping her at lab 16 would put her, a minor, in the direct line of fire, and I can't say I am comfortable with that."

"Of course her safety is important Bruce, but we can't afford to be idle either, not after just barely averting a 'Reach apocalypse' and still having so many loose ends to deal with. This matter could get way worse if we don't deal with it at once!" Dick stood up, throwing his hands in exasperation. "We could have used that information to our advantage, kept her there to be our spy and gather information on Patrick among other things. Letting her go was a strategic mistake."

Bruce sighed. No, he wasn't going to get through to him, not when he was like this. Standing up he buttoned his suit's jacket and tugged it straight. He leveled him with his most no nonsense glare. "'I'm ending this conversation, we will not speak of this again, agreed?"

"…Yes."

He looked so dejected that Bruce couldn't help smiling; the boy simply took on too much responsibility for someone his age. The smile caught Dick off guard. Usually Bruce smiled liked just when he was about to knock him flat on his back on one of their sparring matches, or generally when they were out in town playing up his Bruce Wayne, playboy philanthropist persona. Dick's eyes narrowed suspiciously, dark brows furrowing into deep crevices, but Bruce only chuckled and made his way to the door, opening it and holding it out for Dick.

"Needless to say Dick, I still stand by my decision, so you can save your breath from trying to change my mind." Still that displeased look… He almost rolled his eyes. "Look, I will see to her gaining admission at Gotham Academy providing she passes the entrance exam and, supposedly, I will also see to her accommodation. I understand that she cares for two small boys too, and will send someone to discuss a bursary on behalf of the Academy that would help cover their expenses. I don't believe she'd want to meet with anyone from Wayne Enterprises for a long while," Bruce's tone held a note of finality that Dick knew from past experience permitted no arguments. He had to convince himself that it was for the best, that a normal girl her age was best removed from all this corporate drama. And at least Bruce wasn't going to report her to the police or social services, which was good? Perhaps he was being a little too calculating and he should lay off this for a while. So, still scowling, Dick followed Bruce out, still not fully convinced that the older man had made the right decision but resigned that nothing he said would change it.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Seble's life was officially over.

Done. Gone. Finished. Any and all other synonyms to the vicious ending of her and her family's future. And all it took was 5 minutes for Mr. Wayne to rip her whole world into pieces. Ok, that was unfair. The man technically had done nothing wrong, she was the one who had lied to everyone in the first place, and now her lie was finally caught. Simple.

In the lady's toilet, second floor and just a few long doors down form lab 2, she watched the tap water flow down the sink. The hot water tap was on full blast, so hot that the steam rising from the wash bowl had already obscured the mirror and those adjacent.

Holding on to the rim, she tried hard no to throw up. Her hair had stuck to the back of her neck, and her heart still threatened to burst out of her ribcage. The fear that had hit her the moment she left that room still followed her, and she had been so thrown by everything that she'd forgotten to tell Mr. Wayne about the Lexcorp stuff. Oh crap. Closing her eyes, she tried to swallow the bitter bile threatening to climb up her throat. It was the reason why she turned the hot water on, she didn't want to have to see herself at the moment. The sight of her failure made her sick and looking at the scared, wide eyed young women standing there, shaking and confused wasn't going to help her at all plan what she should do next.

Without a job, she could kiss her apartment goodbye. The landlady was old and mean, and demanded rent to be paid on time or you're gone the next day. The kid's school too... She threw a hand to her mouth, sure she was going to puke. No, what she needed was a plan, if not for herself then for her brothers. She needed to face it, she always knew that someday someone might figure out her lie and she should have had a contingency plan set up just in case. But she procrastinated, afraid that by working on one she would be acknowledging the fact that ultimately what she was doing was wrong, and that consequent guilt would have stopped her with going through with it. Seeing as how violently she was reacting now, it was obvious that Seble wasn't a very strong minded or spontaneous kinda girl, and it had taken her every ounce of will power that she had to get the job, but if she was going to get through this, she'd need to fix up and work through it. She needed a plan.

Steeling herself and breathing deeply through her mouth, she stood up, brushing her curls off from her sweat slicked face. She turned off the tap, effectively shutting off the source of all that suffocating heat. No, she wouldn't break down. Whatever she had to do, she would make sure that at least her family was well taken care of, and for that, she was going to have to see Mr. Wayne again.

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WAYNE TOWER, GOTHAM CITY

SEPTEMBER 03, 12:45 EST

Bruce thumbed through the security file that he had Alfred put together on Wayne Tech, and despite the contents being minimal and far from complete, at least now he had a vague idea as to what had happened during his absence.

It would seem that lab 16 was worse off than he originally thought. The chief supervisor, a Francis Patrick, was the foremost link between Lexcorp and Wayne Enterprise. It seemed that Patrick's main job was to find individuals who could be persuaded to switch loyalties and offer them substantial cash sums in return for their work, which would then be directly sent over to Lexcorp. However... the curious thing was that none of the payments actually made the defector's bank account, but were instead pocketed by Patrick himself. So why? Why did all these people turn to corporate espionage if the money, the primary incentive, was clearly not part of the deal? Bruce could feel his anger resurface. It was like finding the answer to one question only to find a thousand more waiting just behind! And to make matters worse, a third of his board of directors had been 'bought' over too. Lucius, his CEO, remained loyal of course, and he was grateful for this, he wasn't sure he'd be able to deal with it if he betrayed him, everyone else except him were replaceable, and things were already looking so grim.

Especially since as of this morning and unknown buyer had become a significant shareholder of Wayne Enterprises.

Grimacing, Bruce wondered how he had let this happen. Granted, he had been off-world for quite a bit of time, but he didn't believe in making up excuses for himself, even if they were legitimate. He should have returned on his own, somehow figured out a way to bribe those judges despite Clark's and his posse's misgivings and departed from Rimbor to deal with the issues on Earth. No, Gotham was, and will always be, his first priority, and far superseded any need to keep up pretences of being a 'Superman' type hero.

But here he was, stuck in a mess of his own making. This was what 'team work' got you, a clean conscience perhaps but also umpteen amounts of wasted time. Sighing in frustration, he went over his options: he could fire Patrick and the guilty members of the staff for corporate espionage, but then he'd lose his link to the mystery buyer at Lexcorp (which Bruce assumed may just be Lex Luthor himself), or he could visit Patrick as Batman and interrogate him, but then risk the other party being tipped off and lose the connection anyway. It was obvious what the best course of action would be, to monitor and investigate Patrick, and hopefully he would lead him directly to the source of all this mess.

His desk phone started to ring, flashing red as a shrill beeping filled the room, effectively snapping him out of his thoughts. He picked up, saying a curt yes as his secretary's voice came over the other end.

"Mr. Wayne, there is a call for you from Wayne Tech labs. She says her name is Ms. Seble Howards and that it's important? May I transfer the call?"

Bruce frowned. He hadn't expected her to call him at all. "Put her through," he replied. After a few seconds, Ms. Howards weak voice came through.

"Mr. Wayne? Hello, I-I'm, ummm, I need to tell you something very important? Is it, maybe possible to talk to you sometime soon? Hopefully today, it can't wait it's about the lab and... I don't think it's something that should be con-conversed over the phone," her voice seemed to catch while she spoke, and Bruce felt somehow reassured that at least one of his employees at lab 16 had somewhat of a conscience.

"Yes Ms. Howard. If nothing else comes up I should be able to speak with you later on this afternoon. Would 4pm be convenient?"

"Yes, thank you that would be perfect."

"Very well Ms. Howard, I will see you then."

Hanging up, Bruce felt a brief sense of relief. He had put Ms. Howard out of his mind for the time being but he was glad that she had approached him first. He returned to his files but paused when he felt a touch of cold wind and heard the rustle of his drapes and, raising an eyebrow, he addressed the trespasser standing beside the wall-to-floor windows behind him. "Clark, most people use the front door when visiting a friend's work place," He said.

Clark Kent, self-professed Superman and savior of human kind smiled broadly at his old friend. He stood casually at 6'3" cutting an imposing figure softened by his immaculately combed back black hair and kind blue eyes which were partially hidden by his wide-frame glasses. His handsome, chiseled facial features glowed with a happiness reserved only for his close friends and family. Placing his hands inside his khaki colored trouser pockets and striding briskly towards his best-friend, he sat down on the corner of Bruce's desk, casually swinging his leg off the side.

"Cut me some slack Bruce, I've been in Qurac for most of this morning on an assignment for the Planet and I haven't even had a chance to shower yet," He laughed as he picked up a paperweight from on top of some important looking papers. "And besides, most of your friends have the power of flight Bruce remember? You shouldn't have such a huge complex over it." He grinned mischievously. This was an old joke between the Kryptonian and himself, which to him had gotten old the first time he said it, but remained a classic in Clark Kent's eyes time and time again. Clark was fiddling with the paperweight, a plain spherical object made from glass, a present from a younger Dick, and Bruce found himself growing impatient and started tapping a fast staccato with the end of his pen on his hardwood desk. He always did this; it was like all he ever did was intrude on him when he was working and waste all his goddamn time.

As if remembering something, Clark's head perked up and he dropped the paperweight onto the desk. "Also not to be rude Bruce, but you have got to have a word with your secretary. It's as if she's made it her life's mission or something to stop me from coming in no matter how many times you tell her not to. I'd fire her if I was the heartless owner of a corporate giant like you but since I am not, I'd suggest giving her a stern reprimand." Clark finished on a teasing note. Heartless indeed, if he was as such, he'd have kicked out the Kryptonian ages ago.

The second time today that he felt like rolling his eyes. Sighing, Bruce brought back the conversation to Clark's unplanned visit. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company? I remember telling you yesterday that I would be very busy for the next few weeks and shouldn't be disturbed unless absolutely necessary."

Clark frowned. "And this is important," he stressed, looking towards the ceiling, tapping a rhythm against his leg as he thought. "Ah, yes, I've looked into the leads you gave me regarding Lexcorp as Clark Kent the reporter, but," taking a small pen drive from his pocket he handed it over to Bruce. "Unfortunately I was only able to get so much from their computers; most of the really good stuff was layered with levels of encryption too advanced for me to get by."

Bruce turned the pen drive over in his hands. Well, some information was always better than none after all. "That's more than expected, what with your level of computer skills," he dodged Clarks playful punch. "Hopefully we'll know more from this than we did before."

Inserting the drive into his desk computer, he entered his password then opened the file labeled 'Bond,' another of Clark's little jokes. He opened the very first text file, skimming over the contents and as he did so, a pleased smile spread over his face. And, look, there were 23 more!

"What is it Bruce, What did you find?" Clark asked.

Eyes never leaving the screen Bruce replied, "Exactly what I needed."

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WAYNE TECH, GOTHAM CITY

SEPTEMBER 03, 15:45 EST

Picking up Malik and Kevin and taking them home without letting them know what had happened had been hard, but no harder than clearing out her desk and walking past her colleagues at lab 16 had been. Francis had beleaguered her with questions the most, and she was forced to tell him the truth since he had been her supervisor. His fake sympathetic look had sent her skin crawling, and she didn't doubt her decision to tell Mr. Wayne about him one bit.

Returning to Wayne Tech after feeding and assigning chores to her younger brothers, she steeled herself to go through the humiliating process of returning to her former workplace. Luckily, the guards at the front desk had already been informed by Mr. Wayne of her arrival, saving her the trouble of explaining her situation herself. She was told that Mr. Wayne had yet to arrive, but would see her in the general meeting room in lab 2, where their last meeting had been.

Swallowing, she hoped that this one would go better than the last. Making her way through the stark white building she noticed that a lot of the lab personnel had already left for the day. This wasn't unusual, as the only requirement at Wayne Tech was for the work assigned to be finished, and as long as that was done you were allowed to leave pretty much any time you wanted. However, what was unusual was that lab after lab was empty, and Sebel had never seen so many people finish their work so early. Even she had had a few days were she needed to ran back to the lab to finish some urgent work and clocking in some overtime. Frowning to herself at the strangeness of it all, she promptly shrugged it off and continued to make her way to lab 2.

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WAYNE TECH, GOTHAM CITY

SEPTEMBER 03, 19:15 EST

Three freaking hours. Seble has been sitting in the meeting room, waiting for Mr. Wayne for three freaking hours and no one had come to so much as to see if she was still here.

She sat with her head in her hands. She was tired and had a headache, and if she didn't hear from someone soon she was leaving. She groaned. Okay, so this was partly her fault. She should have gone down to reception once the dude had been late by 30 minutes but she kept putting it off, god she was so lazy sometimes… and now here she was, waiting for a guy that was obviously not coming!

She groaned again, loudly this time and stood up. Forget this, she tried, and now she was out of here. Besides, Malik and Kevin would be getting hungry right about now. She left the meeting room and made her way through the long corridor to the elevator. It had taken all her will-power, and she meant all of it, to call that guy up and he stood her up. Well, jokes on him now who's going to tell him the crazy suspicious things going on in lab 16, or of the strange bio-computer that had become the center of Francis' attention?

Aw who was she kidding, of course she'd tell him, it was his right to know if something fishy really was going down at his company. She pressed the elevator button and stood back, but the small blinking light didn't go on. Frowning she tried pressing the button a few more times but nothing. Great, stairs it is then. Muttering to herself she made her way to them, luckily they were just a few steps away from the elevators and she was only on the second floor. She turned to open the stair door but found that locked too. Maybe the custodial staff had thought that the lab floors were empty and had locked up, seeing how pretty much everyone had left by the time she got here at 4-ish. Good for them, but sucks for her though, as being the cheapskate that she was, she never did get around to buying a cellphone so the only way she could contact the guards down on the ground floor would be by the phone in the main lab 2 work area.

Going back the whole way sucked but hey, that's how the building was. Nothing but straight lines, no short cuts anywhere except at the meeting rooms, which can be entered through both the main lab area and the hallway, though technically only the supervisors and higher had the access key to the hallway entrance, so the regular drones had to go in the long way.

Which was why as Seble was making her way back to the lab and found the hallway entrance to lab 2 slightly ajar she was very curious to see just who had entered through there, especially since when she left it had been locked, and also the floor was totally shut down too.

Curiosity got the better of her so she peeked in, but there was no one there. Finding this odd she decided to look further in. It's not like she was going out of her way, if anything this route was much faster than the long way around, and whoever was in here might also have a key for the stairs, hopefully. Traversing the distance in the small room quickly she went inside the main lab 2 work area. The room was dark, and there were no visible signs of people around, but she could swear that she heard voices coming from one of the testing side labs in the east wing. The east wing had been used in the past for weapons and military tech assembly and had yet to be reassigned to a new division so most of the time lay empty. This only made things more suspicious in her mind, because no one in Wayne Tech had been given clearance to enter that lab yet, and yet that was definitely were the voices were coming from

A little more cautious now Seble made sure not to make a sound as she approached the lab marked MA1, by-passing a few workbenches, chairs and metal-alloy testing tools that someone had carelessly left out in the open. The voices had gotten clearer now and, surprise surprise, guess who?

"I'm afraid Mr. Calculator that we will be unable to continue our work here at Wayne Tech. It appears that the 'upper management' has caught wind of our little set-up here and shall be cleaning house soon, and I don't wish for either myself or our research to end up in these human's hands." Came the rough tones of Francis' voice. He seemed to be speaking to someone whose voice Seble didn't recognize and as she couldn't really see from where she was crouching she couldn't identify them by sight either.

The other person grunted, "That's fine my employer has what he needs anyway. Make sure you don't leave any… loose ends. We don't want any loose lips running about."

"You can rest assured that no one else knows of our business, and those who did have been, as your lot so aptly put it, made to see the Light!"

"My employer and I thank you for your discretion then Mr. Patricks." He picked something up that clattered on a hard surface. "This is all the remaining research?"

"Yes! All hard copies and digital, everything and everything and now nothings left at Wayne Tech~." He sang mockingly, he started giggling but as his 'friend' remained quiet, he stopped quickly with an awkward little cough. "Hmm, unfortunately the little dear who was leading the analysis on the transmuted MotherBox was… let go this morning, bless the poor little lamb," Seble gritted her teeth, the nerve of this man! "Well at least we know now a little more about this little one than we did before. Alas, anything further will have to be conducted at your own labs."

"Hmm, that's fine, that's fine. Do you know where this researcher of yours currently lives? Perhaps she could be convinced to work with us, especially if she no longer has employment here."

"Ah yes, I didn't get the chance to ask her, and she didn't seem the type to switch loyalties so easily at the time. Bu-t," he elongated the word as he stretched? Or at least that's what it sounded like. "Hmmm, being out of that human's skin feels so good! Errr, I meant to say that termination does make one bitter against ones former employers so she may be persuaded?"

"Then pay her a visit. She's one of yours and would be more inclined to trust you."

"No can do sir! I am going back by boom tube for good this time, my work here at Wayne Tech is finished. I simply need to set up the explosive here and blow this place up. But perhaps one of my drones may be of use? The Dr. Whittaker was on good terms with the girl from what I remember. Acceptable?"

"Yes, acceptable. As long as the job gets done."

"And besides, if not your people can always find another way to convince her, she does have these two lovely little boys. If they were to suddenly disappear from school…"

Seble gave a small involuntary gasp and the room quieted. She slammed her hand to her mouth. Oh crap, no! These people are crazy; they were talking not only about some very obvious corporate espionage and insider trading, but also kidnapping her two younger brothers! She knew she had to get out of there fast, the topics of their conversation labeled them as obviously crazy dangerous people, but panic dulled her already very slow reflexes and it took her longer than a moment to gather her legs beneath her and scramble away from her hiding place but not fast enough as soon a large shadow, larger even than Francis' bulky frame, blocked out the faint light coming from the adjacent room. Her damn curiosity forced her to turn around and she stopped. It wasn't just large; it was huge and definitely not human. The creature's frame now blocked out the entire doorway obstructing the light almost completely so that all she could see was a shadow surrounded by a halo of light. The creature was easily 7'3" with a grotesque ape like posture and what appeared to be two huge wings folded by its side. She couldn't tell much more but that was enough for her to know she needed to get the hell up out of here.

"My my, if it isn't little Seble! What are you doing here hun? Labs are closed, you shouldn't be here. Here, let me turn on the lights." There was a click and the room was flooded with light. Even before she could see him she knew who that voice belonged to but her brain just couldn't connect the man she knew to the monster standing before her.

Francis. Out of everything it turned out that Francis was some crazy demon alien looking monster with gold armor plated green skin, a large mouth full of sharp teeth that looked impossible to speak with and two small deep set block red eyes, sclera, iris and all. The Greek letter omega was emblazoned on his- his? It's? – chest glowing in a pulsing red light. She couldn't stop shaking, her legs her entire body, it was terrifying; this thing was the stuff of nightmares, books, movies even, but not the kind of thing you'd see in real life!? It stepped towards her forcing her to scuttle back. It was laughing, actually laughing, as it taunted he by taking a small step forward for every time she moved backwards. She whimpered, feeling tears threatening to spill. She wasn't brave, she still slept with a light on sometimes, and she could never watch a horror movie without losing a week's sleep over it, so for her now it was like her amygdala was on overload. But even as her back came into contact with a lab bench and she could go no further, the second man emerged from the side room, looking bored and slightly annoyed. He was talli-sh with a bookish air enhanced by his well-tailored khaki colored suit with the jacket off, slung over his arm, and a red plaid tie over a white shirt with suspenders. Crooked glasses perched on the end of a long hooked nose. His small eyes peered at her as he smoothed down his golden sideburns and his lip curled in disgust at the sight of her.

"Mr. Patrick, get rid of her if you please. It doesn't bear mentioning again that I do so loathe loose ends." He sneered. Promptly, he turned to leave, his polished black-heeled shoes clicking loudly on the tiled floor. After a while there was a loud but muffled boom and then silence.

Francis turned back round to her after watching the Calculator man leave. "Well then Seble, sorry but you heard the man. We can't have you running around telling people what you heard and saw here now can we?" Without even the slightest pause it opened its mouth wide, almost wide enough to unhinge a normal person's jaw. The red omega started to glow a constant bright red light and that caught her attention, something was going to happen and judging by the course of their (one-sided) conversation it wasn't going to go well for her. So just as a small red ball of light formed at the back of its throat, she leapt over the bench with a dexterity she never knew she had and ran, not even glancing back once. The doorway leading to the main exit was closest so that was the direction she was headed in. She just prayed that she'd make it in time because what Francis the alien was doing looked like some kind of mouth laser beam and she didn't know if she could even outrun something like that!

Her breath was coming out harsh and Seble had a feeling that she should duck behind a bench while she still could; she wasn't going to make it. Just as she pulled out one of the stools and crouched underneath the small space beneath the bench, Francis let loose the beam from its mouth.

The resulting explosion was deafening. Seble's scream was lost in the amount of noise that followed as she was flung, bench and all, half-way across the room. Her eyes were kept tightly closed as she crashed onto the floor, a fine powder of dust following her as she fell. The explosion wasn't as big as Seble had thought it would be, but it was still pretty strong. She couldn't open her eyes from the shock and dust and, mind still reeling, Francis seemed like the least of her worries at the moment.

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