Brittany examined her equipment carefully as she kept close attention to her surroundings. Amber was seated at her computers, typing away at something, and Saleen was standing, the staff hovering before her and surrounded by a blue glow as she examined it. Diana, like Brittany, was preparing her equipment. The air was filled with a sense of readiness, like the tension in the muscles of someone preparing to leap, Brittany mused.

This latest occurence, they had concluded, had probably been directed at them. It had been a public attack, unlike any of the other appearances of the creatures, and was very near to them. In fact, thinking on a global scale, it had taken place right on top of them. Someone was obviously ticked off and wanted them out of the way. Also obviously, that same someone had underestimated them. That was not likely to happen again, and Brittany was hoping that Amber quickly unraveled the pattern so that they could be better prepared, and ready for when the next strike came.

As if on cue, Amber shouted "Got it!" All three women looked up to see her leaned back in her chair, grinning with satisfaction. She looked at them, then gestured to her computer screen. "Program's complete, and once I filtered out that little incident earlier..."

Brittany was at her side in a moment, peering at the screen. There was a map of the planet with various locations highlighted in red, and some sort of mathematical-looking language. Diana, on the other side of Amber, squinted. "This magic does not speak to me. Perhaps if you translate...?"

Amber nodded, quickly growing serious after her initial elation at success. "I took Saleen's energy scans, some of the observations from the Department of Homeland Security, and the data I extracted from that little gadget you found, Brit, and fed it into a algorithm I designed to-" She stopped and looked around at her audience. Saleen, hovering over her, looked blank, as did Diana. Brittany was certain her face had a similar expression. Sighing, Amber resumed. "The result is that we have determined that these locations-" Here she touched something on the screen, turning six of the red dots blue, "-have some kind of teleport machinery in place, somehow connected to that glow-tube thing they like to use."

"Very technical term there, Amber," Brittany quipped, getting a glare for it.

"They seem to have been interested in these other locations mainly to recover various resources that really aren't an issue right now because if we don't solve the bigger problem... Here." She tapped the screen again, this time on the map over New York City, and a satellite image popped up. "Tactically speaking, you take control of the United Nations and you've got a lot of countries under your thumb, sitting worried. Now, it isn't public knowledge, but there are going to be several world leaders in here late tonight for a meeting-something to do with nuclear arms, I think. Not important. What is important is that-"

"Tonight's meeting would make a prime target for attack," Brittany finished for her, earning another glare, but this one was not as sharp. "Where?"

Amber pointed to one of the buildings on the image, near the river. "This one; the Conference Building. They seem to be on alert, 'cause they've got security beefed up all around it, but get this. Those energy readings from Saleen? Homeland Security picked up an identical reading an hour ago...in the East River. They don't know what it is, but we do. Here." She tapped something else, and the image changed to some sort of color gradient. There were obvious hot spots in and around most of the buildings, but one spot on the river, which was otherwise empty, practically blazed with color. "Guess where I think they're hitting from?"

"And the defenders will be unaware they are under attack until too late," Diana murmured. "The attackers will be better prepared now. They have tasted our skill, and will now be ready to confront us should we come to take them."

Brittany's mind raced as she examined the street layout. She wasn't very familiar with New York City, but it was a safe bet that it would be moderately busy at any time of day, especially around UN Headquarters. "How many people are at risk here?"

"I estimate...the entire planet," Saleen spoke up. "These machinery appear to be linked to something, but I have not found anything powerful enough to trigger them all yet. However, this may be it." She indicated the hot spot on the screen. "In fact, I think I should go there now and monitor it. I will be in touch." She turned and shot through the room, phasing through the window and disappearing in seconds.

"Bring up the world map again," Brittany said, and Amber did so. She leaned closer, studying it with narrowed eyes. "Can we get an overlay with estimated population numbers?"

Amber typed something in and brought up another gradient laid over the original map. Brittany's eyes narrow further.

"The darker colors...that is higher population, yes?" Diana asked. At Amber's nod, she pointed at each blue dot. "If we cannot stop these..."

"Beijing, Moscow, London, Tehran, Tokyo...what's that?" Brittany pointed to a blue dot near the Great Lakes.

Amber checked it. "Niagara Falls. That doesn't seem to fit the pattern of the others; why not go after, say, Chicago?"

Something from her General Studies class in her freshman year of college came to the front of Brittany's mind at the mention of Niagara Falls. "There's a major power station there, responsible for a lot of the electricity on the East Coast. If that goes-"

"Major blackout, stuff shuts down, people panic," Amber finished. She sat up abruptly and pulled up a search. "I was right. There's an Air Force base located not far away. They can kill two birds with one stone by attacking here."

There was only one more thing Brittany wanted to know. "Can we stop them?"

"If we can prevent them from succeeding at the UN, then yes," Amber said.

Diana nodded in understanding. "If they require that location for the rest of their...machines to work, then we must prevent them from taking that location." Straightening up, she went straight for her armor. "We should prepare."

Brittany agreed, but she couldn't help grumbling, "A full invasion on our hands...what a time for our only Green Lantern to be on the opposite side of the universe."