AN: Wow, I am reaaly late. Well, wait no more. A fresh chapter for those who are patient. Special thanks for Cordria for lending her time to beta!

Lost and Found Chapter 12: Board Meetings

Abel Cain let out a frustrated sigh as he sat patiently at the desk in his office and feigned interest in the board meeting he was currently attending from the terminal in front of him. He barely listened as numerous board members droned on about the financial well being of his company. He didn't know why they insisted on these weekly engagements when he could have just as easily gotten his information from the reports that currently filled up his cooperate inbox. Despite his obvious boredom, however, he paid attention to every word spoken and what he heard was nothing but good news.

In spite of recent economic troubles, KimeraTech was striving and successful, gaining ground in both the NASDAQ and the Dow. It was quite an easy task to achieve, considering the current state of affairs in the military defense market. The news of the arrest and incarceration of Lex Luthor at the hands of the Justice League shook the industry, sending LexCorp's reputation crashing into the ground and leaving a void that KimeraTech was more than happy to fill. Since then, their profits quadrupled in a matter of weeks and many of Luthor's former defense contracts fell into Cain's hands with ease.

Of course, he wasn't the only one to take advantage of the collapse of the Luthor Empire. Vlad Masters, a long time rival of Cain's, had also benefited greatly and had lined his pockets in the process. Masters, like himself, had appeared on the corporate ladder around the same time he did and in almost the same manner. Both had materialized from seemingly nondescript pasts and quickly made a name for themselves, innovating in their fields and devouring all those who could not keep up. Cain was actually surprised that they had never crossed paths before and he had a hunch that was about to change.

After almost an hour the meeting finally adjourned, much to the delight of the executive, who immediately poured himself a drink. Taking a sip of whiskey, Cain pressed a button his desktop console which activated the intercom to his secretary. "Candace, what's next on the agenda for today?"

"I take by your tone of voice that the meeting didn't go so well?" she replied flatly.

He gave a hearty chuckle before replying. "Quite the contrary. Business has never been better."

"You could have fooled me, sir."

"After your first billion, things tend to get a bit boring," he commented sardonically as he took another sip.

A muffled laugh could be heard on the other side of the intercom. "Well, since the company is doing so well, I hope that means I'm getting a raise." The tapping of keys indicated the accessing of her computer. "Your meeting with the special R&D division should have started a few minutes ago, Mr. Cain."

At the sound of his next appointment, he rose to his feet with renewed vigor and placed his glass on the desktop. "Thank you, Candace." He turned to leave, but stopped mid-step. "By the way, perhaps we should discuss a pay raise… perhaps over dinner tonight?"

"I don't think that's appropriate behavior for an executive and his personal assistant," she replied, though her voiced lacked any harshness. "I'll think about it."

Smiling, Cain walked over to elevator door at the far side of his office and pressed the button on the side to activate it. A bell sounded and the doors whirred to life, allowing him passage to the elevator that normally traveled to the levels below. As he stepped inside, he ignored the buttons that would typically send him on his way and instead placed his hand on the back wall of the elevator car. A piece of the wall slid away, revealing a palm and retinal scanner as well as a keypad.

After punching in an access code, Cain allowed the scanners to read his fingerprints and iris, which caused a mechanism to whine into existence. The doors of the elevator closed as the whining became louder and the lights of the cab began to brighten, climaxing into a bright flash that quickly engulfed him. Moments later the lights subsided and the doors opened once again, revealing a hallway instead of his office. Unperturbed by the change of scenery, he made his way past the observation windows that lined the walls, each one revealing researchers and technicians hard at work on some his company's most important and secretive projects.

The businessman finally reached his destination, s a pair of ominous-looking metallic doors that slid open without any hesitation at his arrival and allowed Cain to cross the threshold. He stepped inside a medium sized conference room which housed a table that could seat twelve, along with matching chairs and a large screen monitor that covered half of the farthest wall. As he made his way to the head of the table, he noted that two of his department heads were occupying seats opposite each other and had noticed him the moment he entered the room.

"And our illustrious leader graces us with his presence," the larger of the two stated contemptuously, waving a hand as he did so. "You know I'm a very busy individual, Cain. If you insist on calling these little gatherings, the least you can do is make an effort to show up on time. I swear, you're getting as bad as Marcus."

An outside observer would have found his appearance and stature to be quite intimidating, given the fact that he clearly was not human. A white lab coat wrapped around his body, hiding what was underneath, though what it did show was quite bizarre. Some of his face was covered in purple, scaly skin, though surprisingly that wasn't its most defining feature. A mechanical eye shone a crimson red, surrounded by the armor plating that covered the right side of his face. The metallic hand which he had been waving just moments before now rest on the table top, its claws tapping impatiently on the surface.

"Aren't you being a bit overdramatic, Daedalus?" Inessa Maternova, the other occupant, commented as she rolled her eyes.

The cybernetic demon known as Daedalus scoffed incredulously. "I think not. I just think he should appreciate the fact that I take the time out of my very busy schedule to come here. I should be at my laboratory, working on one of the many projects he's piled on me."

"You make it sound like I overwork you, Daedalus," Cain said as he took a seat, finding he had to tilt his head upwards to look his sizeable colleague in the eye. "Weren't you complaining a few weeks ago that you were getting bored?"

"That's not the issue here. Tell me, do you at least have an adequate excuse for your tardiness?"

"The board meeting ran a little later than I anticipated," the raven-haired businessman replied.

A humph escaped from the Daedalus's lips. "Oh that explains everything. I'll never understand you humans and your fascination with green paper."

"That green paper is what lets you conduct your little projects in that oversized laboratory of yours," Cain pointed out.

Inessa decided that now would be a good time to interrupt this little exchange, knowing from experience how long these squabbles normally lasted. "Now, now, boys. Don't we have more pressing matters we need to discuss?"

Daedalus responded by crossing his arms and turning away in annoyance. The sound of his tail could be heard from underneath the table as it flapped across the floor.

Cain scanned the room before he replied, "As much as I would like to get business underway, we are still missing a few people."

As if on cue, the door to the conference room slid open, revealing a rather flustered looking Julian Marcus. The Englishman seemed out of breath as he entered the room and dropped himself into of the chairs. "Sorry I'm late, loves. Lost track of the time."

"Last one to the table as usual, Marcus," the eccentric demon remarked.

Julian's eyebrows creased. "Well, if you had simply repaired my watch like I asked you to…"

"The watch in perfect working order. It's owner, on the other hand…"

"Ahem."

The sound of Cain clearing his throat caught both their attentions.

"Now that we're all here, we start with the status updates. Before we begin that, however… Nazo, would you mind giving us a report?"

Julian suddenly felt the slight breeze passing by his left and turned, nearly jumping in surprise when he realized that someone else had unknowingly entered the room. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed at the Asian man clad in black body armor that now stood a few feet away from him. "You enjoy scaring the crap out of me every time you show up, don't you?"

The new arrival paid him no heed and instead turned to give Cain a respectful bow. "Cain-sama, I have news regarding the two targets you were interested in," he started in a Japanese accent.

"Go on."

Nazo raised his head before proceeding. "Phantom has become active again. Our agents spotted him fighting with a ghost yesterday at the local mall."

Inessa's face produced a grin as her interest piqued. "That confirms that he's probably fully recovered from his battle with the Pyres."

"It does, doesn't it?" Cain agreed. "It may just be the right time to give our subject a little test."

"Oh, enough about this Phantom character," Daedalus interjected intolerantly. "You've given her enough guinea pigs to prod. What I want to know is the location of that device I requested almost a month ago."

Nazo ignored his outburst and continued his report to Cain. "As you know, the other object you requested had been difficult to find. After a failed attempt to retrieve it by another rival company, VladCo decided to move it to an undisclosed location."

"And you think you've found it?" Cain asked.

"Yes. We believe it has been hidden at one of Master's subsidiaries, Axion Labs; more specifically, their Amity Park branch."

A smile erupted on their leader's face as he processed the news. "Well, it seems that we'll be able to kill two birds with one stone. We'll be able to both retrieve the part and test Phantom's abilities in one fell swoop." He turned to Inessa as a plan began forming in his head. "Do you think your children are ready?"

"Oh, yes," she answered. "The tests I performed this morning showed their vitals were all green. My little ones are eager to how America would say 'get some action'"

"Excellent. I think we should send Isaac out for his analytical skills. He'll be able to gauge Phantoms abilities to see if they are worthy of our attention. And since they get along so well, I think Caitlin will make the perfect partner for him."

"Now hold on," Daedalus barged in, "You want to send my star assistant?"

"What's the matter, Daedalus?" Julian mocked, "Growing fond of the girl? That's not like you at all; you normally hate everyone."

"She's… tolerable and the only one of my assistants who can actually keep up with anything I say. I'm getting quite irritated repeating myself to those nincompoops you keep sending me. I won't be able to get anything done with those idiots if you send her on this mission."

"I'm sure you'll manage without her for just one night, my friend," the executive consoled. "Besides, if there is anything else of value at Axion, she'll be able to spot it; she is your apprentice, after all."

The chance of examining even more advance technology brought a sparkle in the demon's one natural eye. "I suppose," he conceded, though he still did not seem too happy about it. "She'll just have to pick up the slack once she returns."

Smiling, Cain nodded to Nazo, who bowed in return. "Keep us updated on any changes." He watched as the Asian man's figure seemed to blur and then disappear into thin air. "So tell me, Julian, how are things going with the scanning process?"

"Surprisingly enough, quite well," Julian replied, "Considering that he made the bloody contraption that's doing it." He nodded towards Daedalus's direction, eliciting a growl from the offended party. "We've got a few days to go, but we're almost done scanning the books from the old library into the central database."

"I don't think I've properly thanked you for the good work you did retrieving those books."

The sorcerer simply shook his head in humble denial. "Considering everything almost went to hell in a hand basket when old Xanthus showed up, I don't think any praise is needed. We were lucky to make it out of there without either he or the Titans knowing."

"True, but thanks to your quick thinking, not only did we get what we needed, but we've gained some valuable intel about both Phantom and Raven. All in all, it was well worth the risk." Cain clasped his hands as a wicked grin crossed his face. "As the old adage says, knowledge is power and with what we have now, we have the advantage. "

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

"Dude, are you alright?" Tucker asked Danny worriedly as they, along with Sam, walked over to Tucker's place. Danny's friends had arrived at his place midmorning, glad to see that he was doing physically better than when they had seen him last. The moment that they arrived, Danny had immediately suggested that they should spend the day together away from his house. Tucker would not have thought anything of it, except for the fact that Danny had an almost desperate look to his face that begged for escape.

"I'm fine, Tuck," Danny dismissed nonchalantly, not quite pulling off a smile.

Sam couldn't help but look at him oddly. "Are you sure? Cause for a guy whose cousin was just saved from an untimely death, you don't look too happy."

Wincing from his transparency, he sighed. "It's not that I'm not happy. Saving Dani's life took a lot off my shoulders. It's just that…" Danny hesitated. "It's nothing."

"Oh, no," Sam retorted, giving him a withering stare. "You're not giving us the silent treatment this time. Spill it."

After a few moments of silence and under the glare of his goth friend, the halfa relented. "Raven and I had a fight this morning."

His friends stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, worry clear on their faces. "Are you alright, man?" Tucker asked.

"I'm not really sure. I wouldn't call it life ending or anything like that but I'm not sure where we stand right now and frankly, I'm too scared right now to find out."

"Is that why you wanted to leave your house so badly?" Sam observed.

Danny hung his head low as he began to walk again. "I just needed to get away, you know? Clear my head and try to sort things out."

Sam and Tucker followed their friend, not saying anything for a few moments as they continued their journey to Tucker's house. When the silence became unbearable, it was Tucker who decided to break their collective reverie. "If it's something that you want to talk about, we're here to listen."

Danny stopped again and turned to his friends, noticing their concerned looks. The halfa felt a pang of guilt him when he realized just how apprehensive they were of his wellbeing. His initial plan was to find a way to sort things out on his own, though that notion was quickly being pushed aside to the back of his mind. "She was angry about last night," he admitted to them. "She thought that I was crazy for jumping into the chamber to try and rescue Dani."

His friends exchanged a look for a moment, as if exchanging thoughts without saying a word, before they turned back to Danny. "Well, we don't really blame her. I think we all nearly had a collective heart attack when you dove in there. You should have seen Sam; she pretty much- oof!" his train of thought was derailed by a elbow to the ribs by Sam.

"I think what Tucker is trying to say is that what happened last night was probably the craziest, most idiotic thing you've done since you got your ghost powers," she stated calmly, drawing a bewildered stare from the halfa. "The difference between her and us is that we're used to you, which I'm not quite sure is necessarily a good thing."

"That's just the way you are, man," Tucker chimed in. "You're always like that whenever any of us are in danger. It's not like we enjoy seeing you risking your butt like that, but we get why you do it."

Danny could feel another wave of remorse sweep over him as he realized how much grief his heroics had caused them over the years. Despite the troubling thoughts that coursed through his mind he couldn't help but smile at how lucky he was to have friends like them. He knew he didn't deserve either of them and he often wondered why they stuck around him despite how much trouble he seemed to get himself into. His mind then proceeded to Raven and how much he had put her through the short amount of time that he had known her. "What if… what if I scared her away? I mean, she doesn't really have a reason to stay now that Dani's cured. What if I screwed everything up with her?"

"Danny, you really are clueless, aren't you?" Sam said with a wry smile. "She wouldn't have been so angry at you if she didn't care."

"If that's the case, with the way Sam gets pissed off at you… oof!"

Sam's elbow once again found its way into Tucker's side, sending the techno geek off balance. She gave him a cold icy stare that would have given Danny's ice powers a run for their money, then stole a quick glance, hoping Danny didn't notice the blush that slowly creeped up her cheeks. She cleared her throat before she continued. "I'd suggest that you give her a little space to cool off."

Danny's lips soon formed into a smile that shone brightly from his relieved face. "You guys are awesome."

Tucker grinned back, thankful to see his friend in better spirits. "We know, we know."

The trio finally arrived to their destination, greeting Mrs. Foley as they entered the living room. They made a beeline straight upstairs to Tucker's room, which was as usual covered in all sorts of technical gadgets and gizmos.

Tucker began rummaging through the mess in search of something. "You guys are going to be psyched when I show you this." He pulled out a jewel case from under the mess and displayed it for his friends to see.

"The Doomed Expansion pack?" Sam remarked in a tone that showed she was not impressed. "I had this weeks ago."

"You did?" the African American teen exclaimed. "How? I got it the day it came out!"

"Beta-tester," she replied indifferently.

Tucker feigned betrayal at the news. "What's the point in having a friend who's loaded if they don't share in the wealth?"

"A girl has to have upper have the upper hand, doesn't she?" Sam smirked. "Are you going to keep on complaining or are we going to play?"

A grumble was Tucker's only reply as he slipped the disc into the drive of his PC.

"I'll be right back, guys. I got to use the little halfa's room." Danny got up and headed out the door to the hallway bathroom, leaving Tucker and Sam alone.

"I'm impressed," Tucker said out of the blue.

"Impressed? It wasn't that hard to get the game early…"

"No, about Danny. You're taking the whole 'Danny has a girlfriend' thing better than I thought. I was at least expecting some fireworks."

Sam never took her gaze off of the screen as she responded. "Danny's my friend, Tucker. All I want is to see him happy. Nothing is wrong with that."

Tucker simply shrugged, then began to mash buttons furiously as the gaming session began. Sam followed suit, though the grip of her controller was much tighter.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Is it time yet?"

Night fell across the city of Amity Park, marking the end of another day and the beginning of a new night. On the outskirts of downtown Amity Park, on a hill overlooking the technical research facility known as Axion Labs, two figures stayed in the cover of trees, keeping a vigil of the city. The one who had spoken was occupying one of the higher branches of the one of the trees, her feet dangling almost playfully as she held a pair of binoculars to her face. A shock of spiky blonde hair tied in a ponytail adorned the teenaged-girl's head and a tight, jet black jumpsuit covered in yellow lines that resembled traces of a circuit board covered nearly every inch of her body. Placed on strategic parts of her suit were round, metal studs, which mainly lined on her arms and legs.

"I wish you'd stop asking me that," the other figure asked from the ground below in an irritated tone. He, too, surveyed the layout, calculating all the points of entry and going over the schematics he had committed to memory. Like the girl, his face looked no older than seventeen, though his stature said otherwise as he stood almost seven feet in height with extremely broad shoulders and an extremely muscular physique. Like the girl, he wore a tight jumpsuit, though his arms remained uncovered, save for gauntlets where covered his forearms. Instead of the trace lines that covered his counterpart's suit, three V-shaped bars in a dark orange color covered the front of his suit. "Binoculars, please," he requested.

His partner complied, swinging down till she hung from the branch she had been sitting on by her legs. She let the device fall into his awaiting hand. "Do you think he's going to show, Zak?" she asked him in an excited tone.

"If you mean Phantom, then yes. There is a very high probability that he'll show up tonight. That's one of one of our primary missions, remember?" He then glanced upwards, a slight scowl on his face. "And you know we use codenames on missions, Sparx. On the job, you call me Vector."

She replied with a huge grin. "Roger, Vec!"

He gave an annoyed moan and then redirected his concentration on the task at hand. He formulated in his mind the best route to the main lab, as well as where the main panel to Axion's security system was. "You do remember what the plan is, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "I go in, short circuit the security system and get the gear while you stay outside and keep the ghost boy busy. Easy Peasy, Vec. I don't know why you're so worried." Her eyes began to suddenly sparkle as a thought came to mind. "Ohh, I can't wait to see what kind of gadgets they have in there! I wonder if they have any energy resonance stabilizers in there. I've been looking for one of those for ages and they're so hard to come by…" she continued to ramble on excitedly, listing off various names of parts and technology she hoped to find inside the building they were preparing to raid.

Vector shook his head incredulously. "You aren't taking this seriously, Sparx."

"Of course I am!" she exclaimed, shocked that he'd question her commitment. She let go of the branch she had been still hanging from, dropping from twenty feet yet landing perfectly as if it were only two. "When it comes to tech, I'm nothing but serious!" She held up her fist for emphasis, a fire burning deep in her eyes.

"As long as you stick to the plan and not try to steal the whole damn building, we should be good."

"Yes, sir!" she stated, giving him a mock salute, followed by a goofy smile. "Hey, Vec, you better not hog Phantom all to yourself. Save some for me: I have a few moves I want to try out on him!" She punched the air enthusiastically.

"I'll try to contain myself, though you may be out of luck," he replied. "I don't think Phantom is going to be much of a challenge compared to us."

Sparx gave him a thoughtful look. "I don't know about that. The boss said that he'd be tricky. Anyway, I bet the others are pretty jealous that we get to fight him first, especially Nerissa. She must be throwing a hissy fit right now."

"I'd imagine so," he responded distractedly. "I think its adequately dark enough for us to begin the operation."

"Alright! Let's go…what was the plan again?"

Vector let out a low growl.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the original characters I've introduced. Sparx is going to be my favorite to write. The best way I'd explain her personality is that she seems to be always running on high voltage, hence her name (which is a hint to her powers). Vector is the calm, calculating type who likes to plan things out before he jumps into anything, a stark contrast to the always hyper Sparx.

Going back to the beginning of the chapter, I introduced a few members of Cain's special R&D (Research and Development) Division, Daedalus and Nazo. Daedalus is basically your eccentric, pompous mad scientist, except for the fact that he's a demon with cybernetic implants. His full name is Daedalus Ex Machina, which is a play of a few words. The name Daedalus comes from Greek mythology: he was a great inventor who created a lot of things, including the Labyrinth. Ex machine comes from the term 'deus ex machina', which means "god from a machine'. It's basically a theatre term that refers to a solution a big problem that seems to come out of the blue. I just thought it sounded cool, so I had to use it somewhere.

Nazo's name is Japanese for 'mystery' which he pretty much is. He's basically Cain's eyes and ears, keeping track of various things his employer is interested in.

Hope you can wait till the next chapter!