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"Sabotage?" Superman asked in shock "Are you sure?"
"Yes, most definitely," Batman answered.
The Justice League plus Alucard were back in the meeting room. After Batman and Green Lantern had returned from examining Prometheus and the scientists and kids had settled in for the night. Batman called the League back into the meeting room to discuss his and Green Lanterns' findings.
"The pressure in the station was way too high and the oxygen tanks were at 0," Green Lantern explained.
"But aren't hose checked like 10 times a day?" Flash asked. He was not an expert in space travel but he was sure the oxygen and pressure systems were checked and re-checked many times.
"They are," Batman confirmed.
"What about personal oxygen?" Superman asked "Spacesuits have their own independent supply,"
"Only a few were in those suits when we arrived," Batman answered "and they were dead too,"
"How did they die if they had oxygen?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Those tanks get refilled by the same air pressure system that maintained Prometheus. Likely, they didn't hold much air in them when they were used. Or if they did what was in there was used up,"
"Do we have a timeline to work with?" J'onn asked.
"The sabotage had to have happened after the kids arrived. If anything was wrong, I doubt they would have come over," Hawk Girl reasoned.
"Unless the Saboteur is on the watchtower," Alucard spoke up. The entire league looked at him with grim looks. Only Batman did not have the same look as the others as he had already reached this conclusion.
"He's right, we could have a murder on the tower," Batman said gravely "In fact, I am certain of it,"
"You can't be serious," Superman argued "this was an accident,"
"Was it?" Batman challenged "think about it, we have a few scientists and kids over. While they are here an out-of-control missile hits Prometheus leaving only 6 survivors. There is very clear evidence of sabotage and all the data from Prometheus is now missing. Having been transferred just before the impact. Additionally, the pressure and oxygen systems have been tampered with,"
"Being on the watchtower, in the same room with all 7 Justice League members would provide a solid alibi and it would guarantee the saboteurs' safety," Green Lantern agreed.
"My guess is this was planned, the visit to the tower, the data transfer, decompressing the whole of Prometheus," Batman said seriously "and whoever planned it used the missile impact to cover up the crime,"
"But how would that have covered it up?" Flash asked, "did they not think we would catch the falling station?"
"No, I think they did" Batman answered, "I think they planned on us catching Prometheus and then writing this whole thing off as an accident, hoping we would not look into this matter further,"
"Which we are," Superman sighed. He leaned back in his chair and ran his hand over his face "I hate it when your right,"
"So, what do we do now?" J'onn asked "we cannot keep the children here forever,"
"Superman and I will go down to the Silhouette and check the missile guidance system. Lantern, see if you can find any remains of the missile that hit Prometheus," Batman instructed.
"That will be hard, but I can take a look," Green Lantern responded.
"J'onn you might need to scan the minds of our guests," Batman continued "Everyone else act normal. Before we take them down to earth tomorrow, J'onn you will have to read their minds,"
"I do not wish to cause them further distress," J'onn said.
"It won't be anything deep, we'll tell them that we know the missile was sabotaged to hit Prometheus. We'll watch for their reactions and you'll do a quick surface scan to see which one immediately starts thinking about the pressure system on Prometheus or the rest of the crews' death,"
"Very well," J'onn agreed.
USS Silhouette
General Sam Lane sat behind his desk as he looked over the report in front of him. He had a very serious and grim expression on his face as his eyes trailed over what he read. Suddenly there was a knock on his door.
"Come," the General ordered.
A petty officer opened the door and gave a salute.
"Sir, you have two visitors," the petty officer said.
Sam looked up and over at the officer, he wasn't expecting any guests, and since his crew was still running diagnostics on their systems and the other test missiles, he was not expecting to make a report until everything had been thoroughly checked, re-checked, and checked again. However, the petty officer's body language told him that his man was nervous, and apart from top start generals, this officer had no reason to be nervous.
"Send them in," Sam agreed.
The petty officer nodded and then stepped aside and both Superman and Batman walked in. Batman did not seem happy, but that was normal. Superman on the other hand looked serious but also more relaxed.
"Thank you, Petty officer. You may go," the general dismissed.
Once the officer was gone the general looked at the two heroes.
"I assume this isn't a social visit or you're here to tell me good news," Sam stated.
"Unfortunate not General," Superman said "we need to thoroughly check your systems for virus and sabotage,"
"Superman, while I respect you, I cannot allow that to happen as it would give you access to classified files and I am not in the habit of giving access to civilians," Sam explained "I already have my technician combing our systems for the virus,"
"General, the missile that hit Prometheus was not an accident, it was sabotage. Someone shut off the oxygen, killing the crew," Batman explained seriously "your missile was likely hijacked and used to cover up the sabotage,"
"None the less I still can't let non-military personnel look at our system," General Lane said. Batman opened his mouth to respond, however, the General raised his hand to stop him "Now I must ask you to leave, I have to go to lunch and I will be busy going through the system reports afterward. I trust you gentlemen can see yourselves out of my office,"
The general stood up and then passed the two heroes, closing the door as he left. As soon as he was gone Batman immediately went behind the desk and found the report on the guidance system. General Lane had left the file open on the desk.
"Batman that is classified information," Superman warned.
"It was out in the open," Batman argued "the General wants us to read it,"
Superman let out a sigh, he turned and looked back at the door before he moved over to Batman.
"So…what's it say?" he asked.
"As we suspected, the missiles guidance system was compromised," Batman stated.
"Okay, did the navy get any leads on who hacked it?"
"No, according to this. There is an unknown element in the base code that allows a change of trajectory from a remote access point, to the guidance system using a special password to get in,"
"Wait, base code?" Superman asked "Wouldn't that mean our saboteur would have had to have planted that there during early development,"
"Yes,"
"But none of the scientists were coders,"
"They don't have to be, all they would need is the password for the remote access,"
"Okay, but who would have that?" Superman asked "and if it was one of our guests, when would they have had the time to use it? The Watchtower didn't pick up any signals and J'onn was at the command console almost the whole time,"
"They had their phones," Batman pointed out.
"But they only took them out to snap pictures with us for a few minutes," Superman reminded.
"Alucard was holding the phones for the group pictures that is true. However, when it was just the kids with their favourite members of the League, they were in the scientist's hands,"
"I guess that doesn't narrow our suspects down," Superman sighed.
"Not true, Dr. Lyle did not hold the phones, nor did he participate in the group photos," Batman said.
"You think he did this,"
"Too hard to say at this point," Batman said "We should get back to the tower, inform the rest of the League,"
Superman and batman left the office, they said goodbye to the general and thanked him for his time before heading back to the watchtower. Once they arrived, they headed for the monitor womb. When they got there Alucard was in the process of clearing up the remaining leftover food, drinks, and the remains of several burst pinatas that Tyler, Sophie, and Dylan had destroyed. There were also lolly wrappers scatted about.
"We're back. J'onn where is everyone?" Superman asked as he floated up to the command console and landed Next to J'onn.
"They went to bed. Hawk Girl and Wonder Woman are sharing a room. Flash has overtaken my room and Green Lantern left to take the remains of Prometheus back to earth," J'onn explained. As the Martien was talking Alucard floated up and hovered in front of the command console.
"Did you learn anything?" Alucard asked.
"The missile was compromised," Batman responded "As I suspected, Prometheus destruction was sabotage,"
Superman explained what they had learned from the Silhouette. It was deeply concerning to J'onn and Alucard as the possibility the League was housing the one responsible for the disaster was becoming increasingly likely.
"I can think of only 4 people on the planet with the skill to do that," Batman stated "and one of them is me,"
"Who are the others?" J'onn asked.
"Lex Luthor, your friend Michael Holt, and the designer of the program," Batman stated.
"Luther would not risk it, not after only just getting out of prison," Superman claimed.
"Neither would Michel…why is he a suspect?" Alucard asked.
"I can agree with Superman, Luthor would not have any reason to destroy Prometheus. After all his company was heavily involved in the early stages of the project, to begin with,"
"If Luthor was involved in Prometheus early development, why are you discounting him as a suspect?" J'onn asked.
"Because it was nothing more than a publicity stunt, a couple of years ago Lex Corp stocks were failing badly. At the time the Prometheus project was struggling to get additional funding for the state-of-the-art research equipment. So, Lex Corp announced it would donate some advance scientific equipment and invested nearly $100,000 in the project," Superman confirmed "He had nothing to do with anything else other than providing modified space suits for the kids,"
"He more than made up for the loss, his stock price tripled in an hour, and by the end of the week after it was confirmed that the transfer of funds was ligament and Luthor announced his intention to create special suits for the volunteer children that would meet their needs, Lex Corp stock went up over 300%," Batman finished "Investors had never been higher,"
"Until Prometheus was launched Luthor occasionally added extra funds or additions to the project to keep his company's stock price up," Superman claimed "He used the project as a cash grab, and it worked,"
"Which is why it's safe to say Luthor would not be behind this," Batman said.
J'onn nodded in understanding.
"May I ask why you suspect Michael?" Alucard asked.
"Those floating metal balls he has. He used Brainiac technology to recreate them," Batman said seriously "Meaning he can hack systems with ease,"
"But Michael would not do this, he has no reason to…he is a very honest and good man," Alucard defended.
"I agree with you, I don't believe he's responsible at all," Batman agreed.
"we're not accusing Michal of anything Alucard. Merely going through the list of people who could hack the guidance system,"
"We can exclude Batman from the list too," J'onn said.
"Which just leaves us with the designer of the program," Superman said.
"Do we know who that is?" Alucard asked.
"The late Professor Anthony Ivo"
"The one who created the AMAZO android?" J'onn asked.
"That's him," Batman confirmed "he worked with the military before he was hired by Luthor,"
"How does a dead robotics scientist make a state-of-the-art military defence system?" Superman asked.
"Are musing…or would you like me to answer that?" Alucard asked.
"Ivo drew up a lot of different defence plans," Batman interrupted "it's not unusual for plans to be rejected at one time and then accepted at another,"
"So, this could be a case of Ivo's designs were ahead of his time," J'onn said "and now that technology has caught up, they are viable,"
"Exactly. Ivo had already done some base programming for the system. A test if you will, I'm guessing the military built upon it,"
"When did you find all this information out?" Superman asked.
"I hacked into the US defence network on the way back to the tower," Batman responded casually.
"The flight that took ten minutes on the Javelin?" Superman asked.
"It only took 3 to break through the firewalls and another 2 to find the information,"
"Shouldn't it have taken you longer break through the Défense Grids firewalls?"
"It would have, but I know the back doors,"
"Have you hacked the Défense network before?"
Batman gave a grin in response.
"Of course, you have," Superman sighed. "What about people who worked with Ivo on the original code?"
"There is only one person among the Prometheus crew who worked with Ivo, Dr. Lyle," Batman stated "He was a lab assistant at the time,"
"I do not like Dr. Lyle, but I do not see any reason he would destroy Prometheus," J'onn stated.
"That is something we will need to ask him," Batman said "but we can deal with that when he and the others wake up,"
Since they couldn't do anything more at the moment. Superman, Batman, J'onn, and Alucard focused on cleaning up the Watchtower. Once it was cleaned up, Alucard headed back to his castle. He claimed he needed to get something but would be back before the scientists and the children left.
The next morning when the children woke up and everyone had eaten a large Breakfast (courtesy of Flash) Superman pulled Dr. Riddley, Dr. Reese, and Dr. Lyle away from the kids to have one final chat. To ensure their privacy the other members of the Justice League were saying a final farewell to the kids.
"What did you want to talk about?" Dr. Riddley asked a little concerned.
"Just a few things, first off, I will be flying you all home on the Javelin, the flight is safe and I think it might be nice to do a lap around the earth or over the ocean for the kids," Superman said.
"How long will that add to flight time?" Dr. Lyle asked "we shouldn't waste v
"Probably an extra two hours," Superman responded "the Javelin is designed for interstellar travel and its engines and thrusters are of Kryptonian and Martien design. We re-fuelled the Javelin up last night too so it's not a problem,"
"So, the Martian gave you technology and not the people of the earth, typical," Dr. Lyle snorted.
"I think that sounds like fun and I am sure the children will enjoy it," Dr. Reese said.
"I agree," Dr. Riddley nodded in approval.
"Perfect, also we found some more information about the explosion. We can confirm it was sabotage. Someone emptied the oxygen and tampered with the pressure system on Prometheus. They hacked the missile to hit the space station to cover up it up," Superman explained.
"That's horrible," Dr. Reese gasped "please tell me you know who did it,"
"We don't, but we are looking into it. Even though this has been a horrific event, we may need to ask you some questions in the following days," Superman said.
"Of course, anything you need," Dr. Riddley agreed.
"Thanks, we appreciate this," Superman smiled "anyway, I think we'd better head off before the kids get too attached. I just need to check in with Batman we're all set and then we can leave,"
Superman floated up to the Montier Wombs control console, where Batman and J'onn were pretending to do final checks on the Javelin.
"Well?" Superman asked.
"Dr. Lyle, he was the only one who seemed nervous and his thoughts immediately shifted and to the Missile and I got a glimpse of him fiddling with Prometheus Pressure controls," J'onn said.
"So, he's guilty," Batman stated.
"I did not feel Guilt from him," J'onn clarified.
"What about Dr. Reese and Dr. Riddley?" Superman asked.
"They were calm, and understanding. Dr. Reese is eager to help with anything," J'onn stated.
"It's not enough for a conviction, but that should be enough for a though investigation and arrest under suspicion," Superman claimed.
"The authorities will be waiting for him when you land," Batman assured.
Superman nodded. He floated back down, he and the three scientists said their final goodbyes to the Heros as the kids and scientists aware boarding the Javelin, Alucard approached and pulled Dr. Riddley aside and handed her a Leather-bound Journal.
"Here…this should help your research," Alucard said.
Dr. Riddley took the journal and opened it. "What is this?" she asked as she flipped through it.
"A copy of my mother's Journal…she too was interested in anything to do with medicine. She and my father mapped out a good portion of the brain, its Nero-signals, and how it worked,"
Dr. Ridley's eyes widened "How…how did she do this a 100yrs ago,"
"My Father was…different, he…let my mother poke at his brain…so to speak,"
"Different how?"
"He had…powers," Alucard answered vaguely "his powers let him survive the occasional brain examination,"
"I see, this is amazing," Dr. Riddley said gratefully.
"It is not complete…but it should be enough so you do not have to restart your research from nothing," Alucard claimed.
"Either way, thank you for this. It will be a big help," Dr. Riddley finished. She took the Journal and boarded the Javelin. Once the hanger was clear the doors opened and the Javelin flew out to begin its journey back to earth.
Later that night, Dr. Ridley's house
Dr. Riddley pulled up her driveway and let out a sigh. It was late at night and she was happy to be home. Living in space for the last couple of years and only coming back to earth once or twice was a wonderful experience and it was fulfilling work. However, she did miss home a lot and she was glad to be back.
Superman had been true to his word and given the Kids a longer flight. He orbited the planet once before descending and while the javelin was flying over the ocean, he had the Javelin go under the ocean. Along the kids to see some underwater entremets and pod of whales. Though he did not go too deep as he did not want Aquaman to be on the League's case of invading their territory.
Once they were close to shore, Superman piloted the Javelin back towards Houston where there were medics, worried parents and other people who were part of the Prometheus ground crew were waiting. The children were seen to by the medics before they were fussed over by their parents. As soon as Dr. Lyle stepped out, he was arrested.
He had protested and proclaimed his innocence but the police were not having any of it and took him away.
Dr. Riddley let out a sigh, after Superman had left, she had to answer questions, go through medical exams that took far too long. But she was finally home. Dr. Riddley grabbed her bag from the back of her car, locked it with a click of the keys tag, and walked up to the front door. She was not surprised to find it unlocked and walked in.
"Travis, Gretta. I'm home," she called out.
"Mum?" a voice called out.
Dr. Riddley didn't have time to answer as a young dark-skinned woman who looked similar to Dr. Riddley rushed down the hall and flung her arms around her mother.
"Your back, I saw the news…I was worried," the girl said.
"I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to make you or your brother worry," Riddley apologised sincerely. She looked down the hall, listing for any sign of her eldest son but there was nothing. "Speaking of, where is Travis?"
"He's at work, couldn't get the time off," Gretta responded.
"His mother almost dies in space and the Hospital won't even let him have a day off?" Riddley joked "what do I have to do? Die for real?"
"Mummm," Gretta moaned "that's not funny,"
"I know, I'm sorry, and don't worry, I'm truly fine Gretta really, I wasn't on Prometheus at the time. I was with the Justice League,"
Gretta looked up at her in confusion "you were with the… Justice League?"
"Yep, I was personally invited to the watchtower," Riddley said proudly and a little boastfully. She knew her daughter was a big Wonder Woman fan and that she looked up to the whole Justice League in General.
"You were on the Watchtower?" Gretta gasped "That is amazing, did you meet Wonder Woman?"
Riddley smiled and pulled out her phone. "I got a pic with her and several of the rest of them," she grinned.
"OH MY GOSH, CAN I SEE?!" Gretta squealed in delight.
"In a bit, I'll tell you all about it and our overnight stay on the Watchtower," Riddley promised "But first I need to make a call to let Reese know I got home safe and I could use a cup of tea,"
"YOU SLEPT ON THE WATCHTOWER!"
"Gretta, Tea. The sooner you put the kettle on, the sooner I can tell you all about it," Riddley repeated.
Gretta immediately raced into the kitchen, Riddley could hear the tap running. She sighed and headed towards her bedroom. Once inside she closed the door and threw her bag on the bed. Riddley then dialled a number on her phone and waited for it to go through. She was only waiting a moment before the call was answered.
"Dr. Riddley, your back from Space I see," a female voice came through the speaker "I heard about what happened on the news, you're not hurt are you?"
"I'm good, I'm back home with my daughter. Just making sure the transfer was complete?"
"It did, thank you for your assistance in this matter. I trust the Justice League didn't suspect you?"
"You're welcome and no. After all, why would they? It was Dr. Lyle that always had animosity towards how Prometheus was handled, not me,"
"And Batman didn't find out about your connection to Professor Ivo?"
"If he did, he didn't mention it," Riddley answered "Besides I was never at his lab, not my fault Uncle Ivo took his work home with him,"
"Good, without your knowledge of your uncle's early work, this would not have been possible to pull off. Just know that your research is in good hands,"
"And what happens to Tyler, Sophie, and Dylan?" Riddley asked seriously "they deserve a better life,"
"Don't worry, they and other children will have access to the best medical treatments and will be first on the list to receive any cures that may come from the research," the woman on the phone promised "You have my word that I will see to it personally,"
"Good, oh, and just so you know. I have a little extra that might help you out on Project Ultimen,"
"Do tell,"
"Can't over the phone and there is no way it won't look suspicious if I come into the office. How about we meet up tomorrow for lunch at the usual place…say around 12:30?"
"Sounds good to me, see you then,"
"Then it's a date, I have to go, my daughter is dying to see the pics of the Justice League that were taken," Riddley said "see you tomorrow, Amanda,"
"Have a good night, Dr. Riddley," Amanda Waller said before the phone hung up.
Once the call ended, Dr. Riddley left her room to join her daughter.
