Vadim watched the man dressed like a cat walk passed him out of the training room. It made the situation awkward for him. He knew he was quiet, but he hadn’t known he was invisible as well. Could this behavior be because he had missed orientation…if there was an orientation? He had no idea how the Justice League introduced new recruits. As the cat man left, Vadim tugged on the bill of his hat a bit—he was just venting some nervous energy. He liked to believe he was a brave person, but he knew he was different not only genetically but at times also in accent. Dropping his hand, he cleared his throat, and spoke up, “So I guess trainink is over, da? Is d’ere some place new guyz like me can go and feel useful?”

As fun as watching everyone else actively doing something super-hero-y was, it only made him anxious to finally get in the business; game; way of life; whatever this fell under.

M E T R O P O L I S:

---

^{October 23rd, 2018 - 2:30 pm | Justice League Headquarters - Metro Tower}

It happened two days ago. The Society attacked the heroes' HQ while the Metropolis branch of STAR Labs was robbed by other members of the villainous group. Like the Question had deduced months ealier, the Society was after a strange alien metal called Nth Metal by the scientists at STAR Labs. With Starman warning about a white Martian invasion, Supergirl couldn't help but think they may already have a man on the inside. Several heroes are at Metro Tower helping with the clean up. Could it be one of them?

Starman was still getting readjusted to being back on Earth. He forgot to mention he was from the future and a time lost member of the Legion of Superheroes. He was a new man now. His own man. However the loss of his friends in space fighting against the white Martians weighed heavy on his heart and mind. Doctors call it survivor's guilt. Since travelling the stars after a mission with his former allies in the Legion, Danny became friends with a couple other outcasts and renegades in sectors outside of Earth's. The last green Martian J'onn J'onzz and Tigorr (last surviving member of the Omega Men) had been travelling the stars with the time lost hero taking down the Black Circle Syndicate. Interstellar drug and arms dealing scum of the universe who had recently got into slave trading, the trio of outcasts had nothing left to lose and went at them head on. It wasn't until re-entering sector 2814 that they'd had any real problems. That's when they discovered the armada of white Martian ships and their base of operations on one of the moons of Saturn...

Before he could fall back asleep he heard some moving around and stepped out of his personal quarters at the Tower to see other heroes helping still with the clean up of the HQ. Danny missed it by a day but he couldn't sit around and watch.

Hours later...

While moving some things down to the lower levels of the Tower, Captain Marvel and Toon Girl were the first heroes to be attacked by malfunctioning holo-droids in the War Room utilities closets and storage area. The 'droids took the form of mirror copies of the heroes. Similar powers with knowledge on how to get around their powers. Whoever reset their programming set them on the hardest difficulty.



With part of the communicator systems not working, will the other heroes realize what's happening before it's too late for their friends?

_______________________________________________

M E T R O P O L I S:

---

^{October 25th, 2018 - 7:14 pm | Justice League Headquarters - Metro Tower}

The now retired Batman was visiting Metro Tower and was surprised to discover his hired hand, Clutch, wasn't also at HQ. Most of the power hitters were absent from the base, with only Polarity Man and the newly christened Champion (formerly the Rookie) posing any threat to enemies of the League with real power. Batman was out of costume, making an appearance as Bruce Wayne but the seasoned members of this JLU knew his other identity.

"I see half your squad is absent, Beetle. You know where Clutch is at the moment?" Bruce asked now walking on a cane walking through the Tower with one of the new mentors.

"People have lives outside of just being a full time superhero. Gotta give everyone ample time to take a load off after the fiasco a few days ago." Ted explained to the retired hero.

"I'm sure you're all quite tired of cleaning this place. It's why I had a butler when I was younger..." Wayne continued.

"Well we're makin' due at the moment with reprogrammed holodroids and some of the more willing leaguers." BB explained as he motioned over to one of the blank holodroids sweeping up some debris.

"Yes... I'd heard about what happened the other day. Glad you got the kinks worked out..." Wayne continued walking through the headquarters.

Outside Metro Tower...

"That's the signal... light up that generator. When the lights are out I'll make my move..." spoke the shadow of a pale skinned girl in a hooded trenchcoat.

She pulled the hood down to reveal her wild hairstyle and electricity leaking from her eyes. Livewire was about to knock out the power in the League's HQ.

Moments later...

The lights went out, emergency red lights lit up the exits. Bruce Wayne looked at Blue Beetle and the approaching Champion.

"Did you forget to fix the lights, Ted?" Wayne asked in his grizzled voice.

"That I did Baaaaa-ruce." Ted said as he unholstered his BB gun. After all of the action in the past couple of days, Ted had felt more than a little on edge.

"Probably the damned generator." Duncan piped up as he got closer, garbed in a set of mechanics cover-alls but still wearing a domino mask, because if he learned anything this past year, it's that villains had a habit of showing up where he lived "We've been running her non-stop for a while now, maybe something finally broke down."

"Probably right." Ted added as he holstered his gun once more, turning his attention to Duncan. "You wanna tag along and check it out Champ? I'd like to see what's up but I don't got any tools on me." Ted asked the newly renamed Champion.

'Never gonna get used to that...' 'Champion' thought with a slightly quirked brow as he rolled up his sleeves and answered;

"Hell yeah. After the past few days, mucking around with something big and full of diesel'd be a goddamn dream." The lad snorted with amusement "Sure beats redoing the plumbing in the kitchen."

-00492 (with R2 and Lurks)

M E T R O P O L I S:

---

^{October 25th, 2018 - 7:14 pm | Justice League Headquarters - Metro Tower}

Years of living in the slums of Hub City taught Victor Sage a few things.

One of these things was to never trust anyone. He had broken this rule a few times, what with Professor Rodor, Blue Beetle, Myra, etcetera, but for the most part he had held true to this. For this reason, his room in the Metro Tower had several locks on it including a fingerprint scanner, his computer had several passwords that one had to decrypt and encrypt several times before they could even get to the real log in screen, and his sugar cubes were never left in the community fridge; they were always in a minifridge he kept hidden in his closet, inside of a safe that was inside of another safe.

Most would say the Question was a nut. He would say they were still in their shells.

It wasn't odd for the Question to lock himself in his room for days, even weeks on end, in fact it was pretty much a normal occurrence in the Tower to not see the faceless conspiracy theorist for days. Eventually, he would emerge from his room, bad odor radiating from him due to lack of bathing, his already lean build looking smaller due to lack of food, his rosy mask contrasting with his pale neck due to lack of sunlight. He accredited these prolonged absences to research binges, and never once was it a lie.

"... The Girl Scouts. They're expanding their reach." The reporter murmured to himself, his brown eyes narrowing at the computer screen. Suddenly, he burst up, slamming his fist against his poster board full of tacked on notes. "Damn those skirt wearing, beret loving, cookie selling bastards!" He turned to one of his various conspiracy boards, which he had set up over the past two days, detailing the increasing number of crop circles being produced by the Girl Scouts. "Is the future immutable!? Can destiny be changed?! Will they allow it?" He shouted to himself, startling Amazing Man who was walking past his door at the time. Taking a deep breath, Question sat himself back down in his chair, preparing to continue his research. He began to type...

Zzzzzzzt...

Question was left dumbfounded as he stared at his pitch black monitor, wondering what happened. '... They're making their move. They need to get rid of me. Oh, those tricky little...' He paused. 'No. Would've been dead by now if they were after me... Just a power outage. Must investigate.' With that, the Question slid on his trench coat and fedora. Pulling out a small device, he applied his Pseudoderm mask to his face, before turning the device on and allowing the bonding gas to cement it to his face whilst simultaneously reacting with the chemicals he sprayed in his hair and clothes, changing their color.

"Let's see if there are any answers that can hide from..."

Things were quiet today. There was some explosion a few days and an attack, but most of the team was away on missions when that happened, and when Toon Girl got back, things weren't all pristine like when she left it. Two days of cleaning, lifting, and moving all the damaged items was quite annoying, but at least she had help with it. Of course things got even more aggravating when she was moving a large component of the training room, and some training bots activated, ambushing her and the few other team members who were assisting her with the room's reconstruction.

"Great. Two days of back breaking non fun work, and now malfunctioning robots. Someone really hates us." Toon Girl said, not in a mood to play with whoever was controlling these robots. These training bots weren't much of an issue. Sure some looked like her with a red color scheme and the others looked like Shazam with a white color scheme, but they were just hologram robots, they didn't have many super powers of their own and there was no way they could replicate Toon Girl's powers and their nuances. All they really had was numbers, super strength, and the relatively poor combat tactics that Toon Girl used for fun, at least for her bots.

Lara’s body aced with a soreness, she would only let show, when she was alone. She needed to be strong on absolutely every level. The world looked at her for support. Also, this mess was on her. When you got super hearing and X-Ray vision there are no excuses to get surprised. The time Lara hadn’t spend moving rubble and debris, she had used to practice her kickboxing stances. Sleep could come when the world felt safe and warm again.
Now it had become time to carry something else on her tired shoulders. Something even heavier than what had come before...

Lara approached the League's mainframe, and there was a second before it started up. A few moments where there was nothing, but her reflecting. Wearing her new, more theatrical costume, she took a thorough look at herself: A white, fire-proof fabric covered her body, with a high collar and only her bare, tattooed arms showing. The intricate details very much resembled the pattern her father used to wear. Time would tell if it could resist as much impact as she had been told it could. Even in darkened places the emblem seemed to reflect just a bit of light, drawing attention to the S.
“Bring up the bios, please,” Lara told the computer and watched as the touchscreen displayed the names of the people current members of the Justice League. It was an uncomfortable thought: To think one of her friends had betrayed them. Betrayed the world. And there was one in particular, she imagined doing it.
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” she ordered herself. “Just because he acts like he wants to prove himself, just because he’s the opposite of you, that doesn’t make him guilty. It’s rarely the obvious choice; the one who could most easily avoid detention. The one who could get away with anything. Unseeable, uncatchable.”

Removing her gaze from Kid Flash’s bio, she tried to shake last night’s dream from her mind. The one where she was standing on a scorched planet. The smoldering fire reflected in a man’s shining bald head.
“You have become death,” he told her. “The destroyer of worlds. And now, we are all sons of bitches.”

In an act of contempt Lara shook her head and returned to the real world. She told herself she was in control. Of her life. Of her powers. Looking at the kryptonian writing on her arms helped sell that message.

M E T R O P O L I S:

---

^{October 25th, 2018 - 7:45 pm | Justice League Headquarters - Metro Tower}

"Oy, what are you complaining about? You didn't have to go do the stuff in the lower levels," spoke up the voice of Lizard AKA Jessica. "Try attaching plumbing in the sewers? Now that is a feat worth doing..."

As soon enough two pair of eyes was staring at Champion in reply. Despite being an aquatic hero, Lizard was very capable of seeing things in the darkness as well. Since often times, she needed to move in waters that were dark as oil.

"Sooo....missed a rat?" she giggled, namely thinking the failure of the generator was caused by a rat snapping thorugh the wiring.

"Ehhh... doubtful." Champion replied with a slight shrug "The main genny runs offa solar, but even if that kicks out, there's a conventional diesel back up that's supposed to kick in a few seconds after that to keep the lights on. So either we have a very determined rat or something else is fucked."

Calmly picking up his surprisingly mundane toolbox as he past by one of the little tables they had set up for the clean-up, Duncan continued, taking a mock-hurt face.

"Funny, I didn't hear ya complain about that at dinner..."

"Ah c'mon now, don't go hitting that low...make a girl feel rather bad, eh?" replied Lizard - to girl in question had grown her hair out, a bit longer. It helped in hiding her eyes whenever the two went outside. A pain to wash though and manage - but she did try to look pretty for his sake.

Despite the fact, both were rural spirits - having grown up in the old countryback. Well, Jessica was more than Duncan - but she could easily handle herself on the open seas. That was if she wasn't hugging Duncan for warmth. Not good idea to take your girlfriend to Nova Scotia - when she could freeze up worse than a human in the cold air.

"Still, these stuff was designed by old Bats 'n the other heroes. What could have taken it down? Beside internal sabo'age?" stated Lizard, as they headed down to the generator room. When they had some distance with Ted - she made the effort to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. Going steady for two years wasn't easy - when one looked like a walking, talking crocodile - but she made it up many times to him. Plus, her cooking wasn't half-bad.

"Well, that'd be why it's just you, me, and the guy who helped build the damned thing going down to check on it" Duncan stated in a quieter, tactful tone as the rest of the team shrank out of view... before a slight grin tugged at the Canuck's lips and he casually wrapped an arm around Jess' waist, pulling her closer in a playful fashion "...Because I must say, if you turn out to be the crazy alien infiltrator, then you are very dedicated to your job."

This past year had been... an interesting time for the lad. What with the whole, 'Joining the Justice League', 'Fighting Evil', and 'Bringing his Superhero Girlfriend to Canadian Thanksgiving things'. Yeah, it had had it's ups and many, many downs, but he'd be damned if being around Jess all day didn't make it all worth it- Especially when she was snuggling up next to him for warmth.

...

Honestly, he actually never actually registered the climate of his hometown as being that cold.

...And he was gonna stick to that lie like his life depended on it.

Turning a corner and down some stairs towards the basement, Duncan fished a flashlight out of pocket as they reached got closer to the generator room.

"By the by, isn't your Thanksgiving coming up soon? What're we doing?"

"Dunno. Thinking of perhaps taking you to visit m'a folk. Eager to try the life of a swamplander?" she chuckled - looking at him. Although, while she wouldn't mind the spiders, snakes, lizards and mosquitos due to her thick skin. It might be another deal with Duncan. "Ehehe. n'ah - not that mean with 'ya. Maybe somewhere warm. Hmm, Miami? O' jus find the nearest, empty beach...get sum food...'n a nice tent..."

As she spoke those words, she simply came upto him - and her hand ghosted over his own. Turning his flashlight off for a moment. "...us...under the nightsky...and...hehe...celebrating it...like we did at your place...when everybody left the house...."

After that, she relighted his flashlight - having likely turned his red as molten metal at that. "Ayg'ht - enough eye-candy les' fix these genny, 'eh?"

"You're the boss..." Duncan chuckled slightly, even as his face turned cherry-red, remembering their 'festivities' even as he continued after Ted into the Generator Room, "Let's see what we got."

Whatever good mood Jess had put him in came to an abrupt halt as he entered and smelled... diesel.

Not exhaust, raw fuel.

The grin he'd worn the entire walk down here melting off his face in a matter of seconds, the Canuck first pointed his light towards the Auxiliary Unit, quickly indentifying the source of that smell in the big, gaping hole in it's side. Blown inward. Around where the output cable was supposed to be.

'Awww, shit...' Duncan deadpanned internally as his light slowly trailed away from the Auxiliary, across the puddle of fuel it sat in, to the Main Unit, finding it mostly intact... save for the breaker panel which had apparently ejected itself from it housing and thrown itself across the room.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Duncan put down his toolbox, and pulled a pack of cigarettes outta his pocket.

"Well..." He stated, lighting up a dart and taking a drag, holding it in his teeth as he popped a few kinks out of his shoulders- a sign that he was getting ready for a fight "...Internal sabotage it is."

"Ayeh. Well, guess we can share a shower later after this," spoke Lizard, knowing they'd be stinking of fuel for a long time - not to mention the time it would take to scrub it off them.

As she quickly snatched the cigarette after his puffs, crushed it her fingers and threw it out the room. "Not the wisest thing - to be smokin' in a room full o' gasoline. You ain' Superman..."

As the woman in question, quickly pulled her hair into a ponytail - to prevent it from getting tangled or in her face. Despite the fact that her hair was as tough as steel - as some idiots whom had tried to grab it or gotten hit with it can tell.

Duncan, meanwhile, just sort of rolled his eyes and shook his head a little as he had his cancer-stick taken from him.

"Relax, Hon; diesel's inert until under compression. I could throw a lit pack of matches in the middle of that puddle and it wouldn't do a damned thing." He snorted, clearly amused by the look in his eyes though his voice carried a slightly annoyed tone, as he gave Jess a slight wiggle of his brow and subtly scanned the room behind his girlfriend for any sign of an interloper who might take the bait his (admittedly rusty) improvisation skills laid out with this little 'Lover's quarrel' and do something that'd reveal himself "Wait, is this just an excuse to have the 'Quitting talk' again?"

"What? What makes you say that? I thought we had gotten over this situation long ago," replied Lizard, miffed that he would bring this stuff up right now.

"Plus do you think, now? Might be a good time to bring this stupid stuff up?" she added.

Duncan's brow twitched slightly; either Jess was a much better actor than he was or... or...

...Or he was gonna have to buy a lot of flowers later. Or dinner. Probably both.

'Ahh, fuck me...' He winced internally, as he kept scanning the room over Lizard's shoulder '...I'mma catch hell for this later.'

"Yeah, we talked about it a while ago, but God help me I can tell we're certainly not over it by the way ya look at me sometimes..." The Champion continued, screaming internally at his own voice even as he caught something out of his peripheral "So is this just gonna keep being a thing or- Plug your ears."

With a flash, Duncan's head suddenly snapped to the right and his body quickly followed suit, his arms reeling back before shooting forward and slamming his hands together in mighty clap- a neat little trick he'd learned from the Big Blue Boy-Scout himself - that sent a sonic shockwave into the thick concrete wall with enough force to put an indent eight feet in diameter and three feet deep into it. An impressive display that was only slightly negated by the fact that... something big along the wall very visibly got the hell out of dodge before impact.

Or... entirely negated, in that the Canuck had just pissed off his girlfriend and now had nothing to show for it.

In the moment of silence that followed, Duncan cleared his throat just a little bit uncomfortably before speaking up, hands still out in front of him.

"Err... sorry 'bout that. Needed a distraction." He began with a nervous laugh, that was met by a suddenly very quiet room "...I'm sleeping on the couch tonight, aren't I?"

"Oh relax...I wouldn't intentionally milk this moment for all that I would like," spoke Lizard, going over to him and pinching his cheek - although knowing Jessica, she might as well do it. "Still...don't try that kind of distraction again...cause you know why I don't like to talk abou' that much, when I ain't working..."

As to indicate, that he wouldn't be sleeping on the lonely couch - she went over and gave him a quick kiss onto his lips. "Also...what was that thing? Not to mention, how did an invisible force like that be able to kill the generator without anybody hearing it?"

"Like...don' we have sensor' or sum'kind around our HQ?" she asked, stepping into the diesel, with a slightly disgusted look on her face. "I'm gonna need a show'a after this. Up for joining me later?"

"Probably the work of our little Martian Problem, sensors aren't exactly good for squat if someone goes ahead and shuts 'em off." Duncan replied, subtly letting out a little sigh, both at what he just said implied and out of relief that he had not stepped into his own grave with his little stunt, before meeting Jess' eyes with a humourous grin as his arms fell relaxed to his sides "...And c'mon now, yer gonna give Beetle a heart-attack talking like that."

Clearing his throat and standing fully upright, the man's face shifted into a more business-like expression (even managing to stop blushing for five seconds); now they had at least one more bad guy running around where they lived. Letting the rest of the team know would probably be a good idea.

So, he clicked on the communicator hanging off his ear and... heard nothing but static.

The communicators were being jammed. Because of course they were.

"Oh..." The coverall-clad hero stated after a second "...That can't be good."

Lizard also checked her comm, finding it down - now they were likely in big trouble.

"Generator...." she spoke, now they were in the dark and cut-off from communication. As she soon grasped onto his hand tightly. "And don' you dare let go..."

The Warden//Episode One//Why do we Even Have These Droids

One nice thing about having a bench press of 1 ton and 3 vines sticking out of your back? you can carry a fuckton of boxes. Warden was happy with this; being able to grab all the rest of the things that needed to be transferred from this storage room to the mainfraim room was useful... made the job quicker. As he slowly made his way back, he took a bit more time to mull over what had happened in the past few days. Nth Metal was a dangerous thing for the Society to get their hands on - the last thing the League needed was a bunch of low level criminals ending up with superpowers thanks to it, and he sure as hell hoped they hadn't gotten much - if any - when they attacked STAR Labs. Question didn't seem to be of much use on the issue, having locked himself in his room the past couple of days. In general, Q was turning out to be less helpful than the Warden could have hoped, the more he got to know him. As he was learning more, he was figuring out that the faceless man was as much conspiracy theorist as actual problem solver, and it made discerning the truths from his fictions hard. The massive mental walls he put up between himself and everyone else didn't exactly help his case either, even if he was right most of the time.

He eventually made it up to the room, and was surprised to see Supergirl already in there. He assumed that she had heard him coming, and saw no need to announce his arrival just yet. At any rate, she seemed to be thinking, and it would be rude to interrupt. He set down the boxes where he was told to, and that was that. It was mostly electronics and metal bits - probably some sort of improvements to something in the room. None of that was really his business; for the techheads to deal with, not him.

Supergirl seemed to be done thinking. "Do you wish to help?" he asked her "there's still a bit left to move down to the lower levels"

(@Unknown100)

Having spent another moment getting her bearings, Lara turned to face Warden. Seeing a full blood alien inspired a sense of comfort and ease in this dark hour.

“Sure,” she answered, raising her exhausted shoulders and putting on her mask of confidence. “I can always use the exercise.” Warden smiled, happy to have the company.

The two of them walk side by side through, what had seemed to be their safe place just a few days ago. The people passing them by acted different, at least to Lara. More worn. Less optimistic. She saw and heard it all: The rapid heartbeats. The microscopic sweat forming. The uneasy breathing. Even when she didn’t boost her powers though Tactile Telekinesis, they were both a blessing and a curse.

Few people still had the immensely straight back Warden could boast about. Even when they smiled hopefully. A contemplation Lara caught herself glaring at the quiet mountain of a man. Though she had never had much contact with him, his undoubtedly patience had shinned through from the very first moment. While Lara had had to learn that virtue the hard way.

“You know, at first I thought it was all about the attack,” Lara said and opened up, just a little. “Now, I wonder whether or not all of this was merely a way to keep us busy. To draw our attention towards our home and away from the world. Make us neglect our duties in favor of sleeping better. Yet for now I can’t seem to find a single occurrence apart from a few lootings and people yelling the end is near. What do you make of us this?”

Supergirl was, like her father, a strong and dependable person, constantly worried about the protection of others. A goal to move towards, for the whole team. Her silence did start to worry him, though, as they walked onwards. Without talk to distract him, his thoughts were drifting back to the possibility that anyone could be a martian... even her...

But then, what could he do? He shrugged mentally. It wasn't like his abilities let him tell friend from foe if they hid it well enough. So he'd wait, and act when it was needed. Finally, Lara piped up again, returning from her own thoughts as well. "They need time to prepare, I suppose," he responded, scratching the back of his left leg with a vine. "Silence is not always peaceful."

A minute or so later, and they reached the storage room. There was even less stuff than he remembered; just some more medical equipment and some parts for a few new bots, replacing the ones Shazam had broken a few a couple weeks ago. "Should just be the rest of this" The Warden said as he grabbed about half of the stuff, and continued out the door.

Supergirl followed, and they soon made it to the training room. Or, well, close to the training room - as suddenly the Warden is dive-bombed by a training bot emulating his appearance - and powers, it seemed, as it grappled at him with a vine. The Warden quickly grabbed at one of his acorns with a vine, tossing it into his hand. Punching into the bot, he opened up his hand flat, and willed the plant to grow. As he willed, the tree became a sapling, tearing apart the robot from the inside. "Shazam and Toon girl are probably in there!" he observed to Laura, who had too dropped what she was carrying. Two more bots, both Shazams, were moving towards them down the hall. "I'll deal with them, then follow" The Warden declared, propelling himself towards the bots with his vines right behind the still growing tree he threw at them.

(in collaboration with @unknown100)

Polarity Man

Season 2/Episode 2 – A Traitor Revealed

"Patroller, compile last operation’s combat data… Oh, right. Desktop is not mech or voice operated."

These words would echo throughout the unlit chamber that Lieutenant Trainor called his room. The fluorescent bulbs that once illuminated this space burnt out long ago but, for a man who saw using the extrasensory, this was no problem. Fortunately, this odd quirk of his found good company within the halls of the Metro Tower – Home of the Justice League. A year of sorties with demi-gods and capable men would be an amazing experience for anyone. While true for Polarity Man as well, it also came with a ton of paperwork to optimize his prized Patroller Suit mech.

*bzzzttt-*

And the power outage had just thrown all progress from his latest batch. "… Please have data recovery." he would utter before leaving for the door. As he approached the exit, the decontamination showers he installed wouldn’t automatically go off. A big, red valve had to be turned for it to go off. And off it did go, as Lawrence’s unchecked strength accidentally tore the nuts and bolts holding the valve.

Water sprayed all over our hero, prompting him to weld the showers shut with his radioactive heat. Still soaking wet, he would phase from his room towards the lobby area. As he got there, a puddle of water would form under him but would soon evaporate. Perhaps from his rage? More likely from his heat.

“I would like answ- Mr. Wayne. Pleasure to have you. To what do we owe this visit?”

M E T R O P O L I S:

---

^{October 29th, 2018 - 1:30 pm | Justice League Headquarters - Metro Tower}

It had only been an hour since the two newest members of the League had began their first shift of Monitor Duty without a mentor at HQ. 'Kid' Flash and Red Star still had a lot to prove. The monitor room looked out over the lobby of the Tower, and had several holo-screens and computer tech in a large circled area. The 'room' was almost like a tower in itself connected to one of the upper floors in the HQ and having no overhead ceiling. Wildcat was the last mentor on duty, but went into the field with Fire when something came up at the end of his Monitor Duty shift. Icicle had shown up in Star City on the west coast, and had a Smoak Technologies department frozen in as hostages after a botched robbery.

S T A R C I T Y:

---

^{October 29th, 2018 - 11:30 am | Downtown - Smoak Technologies Building}

Within an hour of teleporting to Star City the heroes had managed to make it to the upper floors of the tech building. What Wildcat and Fire hadn't expected was Brainwave being on the scene hidden a few floors below and controlling the rest of the Smoak employees. Their com-links were disrupted by Brainwave's mental powers, but would the newbie heroes on Monitor Duty realize what's going on and send help before it's too late?

"These people are under some kinda control!" shouted the grizzled elder hero, Wildcat.

"We haven't checked back in with HQ in awhile now, surely the boys will know something isn't right..?" Fire questioned.

-00492

“Agree,” Lara yelled back at Warden through all the fighting. “Just remember I got your word: You survive this and follow.” Without further hesitation she lifted herself above the floor and almost shot through the hallway. For a millisecond the armored door bent like cheap tinfoil, before the hinges gave in and Lara entered the training room.
In there Toon Girl and Captain Marvel were fighting a fierce battle. Armageddon uncensored. Every move from the bots reflected how they had been set on the absolute maximum difficulty.
With tremendous force Lara slammed into one of them, shoulder first, and saw it fly into a couple of others. Even with her strength, one year ago she wouldn’t have dared take on more than one of those things. Now she put her left foot in front of her right in a 45-degree angle, raised her fists high with her elbows in and got ready to bring on the pain.
A bot mimicking Shazam threw a simple punch which she dodged by leaning to the other side and countered with an uppercut which send him rotating. A Warden-bot, she slammed into the floor and stepped out of the way of another Shazam jumping towards her. With all her might she swung him through the wall and got back to the enemy on the floor. A haymaker like a high-speed locomotive knocked him back, and Lara followed up with rapid kicks that buried him so deeply, her leg could no longer reach him.
“Move! We go to where we get to pick the fight,” she told her teammates, her eyes glowing red.
More bots flooded in from the back entrance. Their shapes and appearance changing and glitching randomly.
Putting distance between herself and her attackers, Lara unleashed a hail of laser at the ceiling. The glowing beams turned the hard surface into falling rubble.
In a cloud of dust and rocks half of the room got sealed off when she brought down the ceiling. She then signaled the others to go to the front entrance, where she had entered.

@The Angry Goat @Archmage MC @Afro Samurai

M E T R O P O L I S:

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^{October 29th, 2018 - 1:30 pm | Justice League Headquarters - Metro Tower}

He had to ask... (referencing his question in the last post). The tower was maddening silent. Vadim listened to the whirring of the console, the whispering of the air conditioning system—it even echoed a little in the emptiness. It not only sounded like the entire tower was empty, it had felt like it and that wasn’t even his power. It felt empty. Except for another potential recruit who had joined around the same time as him, Vadim had felt alone. He felt alone and left behind while everyone was out on some awesome adventure. At least the leather chair was comfortable. He had the chair reclined back, feet kicked up on the console, and a highlighter-green tennis ball was clutched in his right hand. He wasn’t wearing any special uniform. He was dressed comfortable wearing a black T-shirt and some dark-blue denim jeans. Bored eyes stared up at the ceiling as he sent the ball soaring up to it, the ball shrinking as it flew away from him. Pop! The sound of the ball resonated throughout the room as it rebounded and tumbled back toward the blonde. Vadim snatched the ball out of the air and without pause, swung his arm around and sent it right back up to the ceiling. His green eyes were narrow with irritation. The room might have been silent, but his thoughts were louder than ever.

Why did he come here? He knew why. It was the generic question one asked themselves when they thought they had made a mistake. He had been expecting some training, a mission, or something. Even a small mission like saving a cat from a tree was something. Nope. Monitor Duty, and there were more than enough monitors to stare at. He felt like the water boy at a football game. The benchwarmer at a basketball game. This wasn’t why he joined. He should have went solo. At least in a solo career, he could have done more than lounge in front of a computer. Before Vadim could sink even deeper into the quicksand his negative thoughts stirred, his brows lifted a little as his conscience intervened.

Wildcat did his time on Monitor Duty too, and he hadn’t been a new recruit. It was a crummy job that probably could have been performed by a well-invested A.I. monitoring system, but as of that moment, a physical entity was necessary. Well, Vadim’s eyes darted over to Barry before they returned to the ball in time to catch it. Entities.

“What you do?” Vadim asked, his voice low and with a distinct Russian accent. He hadn’t looked at the speedster when he had asked him—too focused on his game of catch.

All was peaceful. The time between the trip to Atlantis up until now provided Najee with ample time to rest and discover the extent of his powers. Whether his endeavors succeeded remained to be seen; or so he thought. He and Toon Girl were assisting with cleanup like the rest of the team. Life around the headquarters since the Society's attack was mundane; Najee enjoyed the lull, Shazam desired battle. When the two were suddenly ambushed, indeed Shazam's wih was fulfilled, yet he was thoroughly unprepared. While doing mundane tasks, Najee preferred his 'human' form, an abuse of his powers it would be to belittle his Shazam form for a little house cleaning. He was lucky, however. Supergirl showed up in the nick of time; a nigh-cowering Najee could hardly utter the magic word.

He took off in a sprint; Najee' heart raced, and as he ran he tripped and landed flat on his face. Stacked ceiling remnant from Supergirl's lasers provided ample protection from the White Martian's advance enough for him to rise to hi feet again regardless of his present disorientation. Unnerved, he clamored to both feet and broke into a sprint toward the front entrance where Supergirl had gestured; through parched lips, Najee tried to utter the word--there was nothing. And again he tried, but lacking all conviction, there was nothing. His fear had overtaken him, and until courage breathed itself into him again he would remain impotent, unable to transform. He would have to figure this one out on his own.

"Seriously why do we even have these things?" Toon Girl said, annoyed at how the robots mimicing herself were going for grabs and binding attacks. The Shazam ones weren't all that threatening to her, since all they did was punch really hard, but all those holographic robot tentacles were another thing entirely! But at least they couldn't squish themselves or do too many advanced toon things, like teleporting, they were training bots after all. So she had some advantage in the whole running away department whens he couldn't just clobber a robot.

"All I wanted was to get all this damage cleaned up so I could have some fun!" Toon Girl said in frustrationg, around the time when Supergirl and Warden showed up. The training robots just kept coming from their little tubes, as if someone was making them. That coupled with her frustration, Toon Girl started to use her claws isntead of punching out the robots. While trianing, Toon Girl very rarely even tried in general, and when she did, it was always a basic brawler style. She never trained with her claws, so when she pulled them out, the robots didn't know how to really handle this new data.

Looking at Supergirl, Toon Girl started to say "Hey, how do you..." but was cut off as she brought the ceiling down on all the robots, Toon Girl also getting caught in the fall of rubble. After the attempted cave in and murder of all the robots, Toon Girl pulled herself out of the rubble, her head popping out first before she slowly pulled her body out. "... And thats TWO DAYS of work GONE. I really need an ice cream." She said, stomping one of her feet through a bit of robot that was twitching.

The Warden//Episode One//Why do we Even Have These Droids

One of the Shazambots was knocked back by the tree, but the other hit the Warden like a freight train, slamming him into the wall with a loud crunch. He tried to get back up, but the bot shoved him back down. The Warden struggled against it, slowly beating it despite the person it was imitating. "you might be programmed with super strength, but you're still a bot" he grunted as he pushed the robot off of himself, just in time for the other Shazam to slam into him. The bots were working together now, pinning him down by both of his arms. The one holding his left arm began to lay into the Warden, punching him again and again.

But the bots had forgotten something important. He wasn't limited to just his two limbs. all three of his vines snaked out from underneath him and coiled around the punching robot robot. he squeezed it tighter and tighter, crumpling the well built robot like a tin can, then smashing it into the other Shazambot, letting out a roar as he shoved it off of himself and punched straight through it, breathing heavily.

"fuck"

dropping the bots, he wiped his nose, staining his glove with blood as a massive crash from the training room set him on high alert. Snapping back into it immediately, he ran towards the open door, vaulting himself with his vines through the remains of the doorway - and straight into Najee. "Is the situation taken care of? Why are you not big and full of lightning?"

M E T R O P O L I S:

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^{October 23rd, 2018 - 2:35 pm | Justice League Headquarters - Metro Tower}

Starman had come down from the quarters assigned to him by Supergirl, whom he had warned of a possible White Martian invasion some two days earlier. He had just missed Supergirl and Warden walking down a few levels to the War Room training level of the Tower. Danny looked through some of the opened boxes and took one to the kitchen that had several dishes and cooking tools inside of it. Then he heard it. A rumble of sorts from the lower levels of the Tower, the underground level to be precise. He flew towards the commotion and drew his golden gun from it's holster only to be met by a man with a similar look to his own. What could only be called a blue sky man stood in front of the star-clad heroes path.

"I don't know who you're supposed to be, but you're not who I'm looking for..." Starman said shooting the holo-droid several times with his gun.

The cosmic energy from the golden gun had made the holo-droid's true form show after the second shot. When the robotic interior was revealed he filled it full of holes and continued flying to the point of seeing a car sized hole in the floor of the front lobby looking down at what looked like a wrecked training facility.

"Is the situation taken care of? Why are you not big and full of lightning?" Starman heard a plant covered man ask another man who looked like a dark skinned civilian.

"There are civilians down there?!" Starman yelled down and asked, not knowing the kid in the sweater and jeans was really the magically powered Shazam.

Warden looked up, startled for a moment until he registered the face and voice to be the new guy ...his name had something to do with stars... "This is Shazam" he called back, grabbing Najee, reaching two vines up to the top of the hole and pulling them through. "There appears to be a problem with the training bots," he observed wryly, "Unless this is somebody's idea of an immersive training session. Toon Girl and Supergirl are still down there, but I think that they are fine."

Starman immediately jumped down the hole in the floor. Not that he didn't think a half-Kryptonian could defend herself, he just didn't want to be known in the future for letting the daughter of Superman die. He wondered if her father had ever told her of his time with the Legion of Superheroes in the distant future, if she'd know he wasn't from this time despite living here for the last seventeen years.

"Supergirl!" Starman yelled in the wrecked area, noticing several destroyed holo-droids in the destroyed concrete and meta debris, "Toon Girl!? Are you two all right?"

Back in the Lobby....

"Are you okay Najee? It is unsafe for you to remain as you are with the base apparently under threat," the Warden asked - he was, of course, concerned about having to protect a civilian without the help of the powerful Shazam, but he was also aware that his failure to change forms probably signified something deeper.

@Unknown100 Supergirl, @Afro Samurai Capt. Marvel, and @Archmage MC Toon Girl

-00492

Ted was relived to have the resident strong-man coming along to check out the generator with him. In the off chance that this was something more than a simple blown fuse then it would be good to have someone who can take a beating just as well as he can dish it out. However, just before they could be on their way Ted heard a familliar ringing in his helmet.

"Sorry, I gotta take this." Ted whispered to Champion and Wayne as he began to back away from the conversation "I'll meet you down there".

For a few minutes Ted spoke with one of Kord Industries' head board memebers about the status on a new crisis evacuation vehicle and R&D's new stint into reheatable Tv dinners. He eventually managed to pry himself away from the call after claiming his fridge had fallen on his non-existant cousin. Just as he hung up however there was a sudden shaking all throughout the building. His mind immediatly snapped to the generator room where the trouble first seemed to start. A bead of sweat began to make it's way down Ted's cheek before he snapped out of his self-imposed paralysis and made a dash for the stairwell.

Cranking his gun down to a low setting, The Blue Beetle blasted the crash-bar on the door making it swing wide open as Ted dashed through. With a quick drop of a hook and vault over the railing, Ted began quickly repelling down his grappeling line as he hurtled toward his desired floor.

After no more than a minute or two Ted ran into the dark generator room where Champion and Lizard were hanging around.

"What happend? What was the quake about? he asked.

Back on the ground level floor...

"I'm actually one of the contributors to this facility and just stopped by to check on things after your latest few problems." Bruce Wayne replied to Polarity Man, glowing ever so slightly and out of his mecha suit. "I was hoping to see Mr. Clutch since Wayne Industries began sponsoring him several months ago."

"Ah, yes. I am quite aware of your sponsorship. As for the technical issues, I was just about to inform Mister Kord that my quarters have added to the latest batch of problems. However, I believe that we should have you move to a safer location. Coincidences rarely happen without purpose."

"I assure you I can handle myself, but I'll humor you. Mr. Kord is going to have a lot more on his plate than he realizes it seems..." Wayne continued following Polarity Man to what seemed like a bomb shelter on the first floor.

-@rocketrobie2, @Member 00492, @WXer

"Supergirl! Toon Girl!? Are you two all right?" Lara heard the leather jacket-wearing Starman ask.
“We’re fine,” she answered a few moments before she even knew, if it was true. There were still quite a few bots trying to dig through the colossal chunks of ceiling. More than Lara wanted to fight, even with the help of her friends. Blasting the bots with her laser only weakened the blockade.
“Give me a second,” she told him and took several steps forward.
This has got to work, she told herself
Trying to ignore all the noise and confusing, she raised her hands against the coming danger and summoned her tactical telekinesis. The energy, that she still didn’t fully understand, surged through her veins.
Go on. Use it. Lift every fragment and bot, and then stuff it all into the hallway like blocking a drain. It will give us enough time to assemble and figure this thing out.
Somehow Lara didn’t quit feel the same amount of power she use to, when directing her telekinesis. Yet she trusted that it would come, when she unleashed it against the bots and rocks.
Then came the moment where everything was supposed to fly up into the air and obey her very thought. However only a slight shaking happened in the rocky wreckage.
No no no! What’s wrong?
She closed her eyes and tried to use every ounce of her will to cram her mess into the hallway like one big wall of solid rock and training bots.
Then a hard left sent her spinning backwards. One of the Shazam-bots had broken loose and punched her across the room. She ended her whirling flight by slamming headfirst into the opposite wall. With blurry vision she opened her eyes and retracted her head from the hole it had made. It felt about two sizes to small for her brain, and the pain only grew from there. A single drop of blood hit the floor and then another.
Impossible! … How?
But she figured out the answer right away. By trying to lift the rubble, the tactical telekinesis that enhanced her kryptonian powers had faded. Though she was not exactly weak, everything certainly hurt a lot more.
“…. Oh, no …” she accidentally uttered and met Starman’s gaze. “We need to get away.” While trying her best not to let the team see her this weak, she confirmed to herself that she could indeed still fly. And so she did: up towards the nearest escape.
Meanwhile, more metallic enemies were fighting their way through the remains.
What is happening? Why am I failing like this? Why now? I’m suppose to be able to carry all this on my back. I am hope. I am the dawn. I am Supergirl.

Lexi was walking swiftly towards HQ, her Burberry trench coat that her mother had given to her flapping in the breeze. Her boots hit the cement with satisfying thunks as she started jogging, the coffee in her hand almost spilling as she slowed to a stop a few paces from the building. She whipped out her phone to text the other members that she was here before the building in front of her completely went dark. Lexi swiftly backtracked to get a better look at the building and she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Power outages barely happened at HQ so this was a rare occurrence. Tucking her phone in the back pocket of her jeans she headed into the building.

She didn't notice the cloaked figures outside of the building, keenly watching everything she did.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Her voice echoed eerily within the building.
She tightened her coat and slipped off her chunky boots, aware that if anyone was here she'd have to be completely silent. Her barefeet gathered up some dust as she walked towards the rarely used stairs at the back.
"Guys?" Lexi's voice had started to tremble. If someone leaped out at her now she probably would've been killed within a mere few seconds. Without her team she was useless.

Even more robots, even after a collapsed ceiling! But at least there was a far fewer number of them now. Hearing Starman call naerby, Toon Girl said. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" She got into a ready position as more robots came, picking up a couple construction beams and smashing a few robots. Soon after though, Toon Girl heard Super Girl call for a retreat, and when Toon Girl turned around, she saw that Supergirl was bleeding. "Hey, Starman, you take Super Girl and go, I'll hold off the robots." Toon girl said with a grin, picking up the pace as she started to swing wildly at the robots, hitting them with some obscene levels of strength as they approached out of the small tunnel they were coming through.