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"Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons."
R. Buckminster Fuller
Ch.1 Project Mercury
Unknown Area
"Is the test subject ready?"
"It has completed through several controlled experiments already, and
excelled at them."
"Excellent, that leaves just one test then…"
"The final test sir?"
"Yes…set up the bait, and we shall see what happens."
"Yes sir, right away!"
Watch Tower
It was one of those slow days on the Justice League Watch Tower. And one
member of the JL was not happy about it. He was currently sitting in the
cafeteria, debating whether he should finish what he got or just sit there.
Tall and well built, the man's neat blonde hair was tucked slightly under a
green hunter's cap, which matched the rest of his costume, an outfit that
made him look like a modern day Robin Hood. Green Arrow, aka Oliver "Ollie"
Queen, was bored…very bored. He prodded at the salad that he had picked for
himself as he sat with Black Canary.
"Come Ollie, you just going to keep poking at that or are you going to
actually eat it?"
"I'll get around to it…" Prod…prod.
"Sure you will." Canary smirked as she took a bite of the sandwich she had
picked up for herself. "You're bored aren't you?"
GA's head shot up and he shot his girlfriend an indignant look. "No, I'm
not!"
Canary flicked her blonde hair behind her ear. "Sure you're not." She gave
him a sly grin that earned her a glare.
"Green Arrow! Report to the bridge!"
"Finally!" GA leapt to his feet and gave his girlfriend a cunning smile of his
own. "Now I'm not!" He shot off for the bridge before he could hear Canary's
response. "See you later pretty bird!"
Watch Tower Bridge
GA pounced out of the elevator to see the blacked masked coordinator of the
Watch Tower, Mr. Terrific, waiting impatiently along with what appeared to
be his current team. One was a huge muscularly built man, dressed in a skin
tight black suit that made him look like an oversized cat on two legs.
Wildcat was restlessly tapping his foot as he leaned against one of the
nearby consoles. "What took you so long hoodie!"
"Whoa Wildcat, settle down. At least he's here," said a beautiful African
American woman wearing an orange outfit with a rather low cut. She wore
earrings that looked like the fangs of wild animals, complemented the
necklace she wore that granted Vixen her powers.
"Well, I agree with Wildcat, I want to get going as soon as possible!" A
younger man dressed in a blue and gold outfit with a black star decorating
the gold armor on his upper body was standing next to Terrific, looking
restless as well. A small gold and football shaped robot hovered near him.
"An idea that I agree with Booster!" Skeets hovered rapidly around Booster
Gold's head, causing GA to wonder if the little robot ever got dizzy.
"Ok, now that GA is here, I can brief you on your mission." Terrific's curt
voice cut through the chatter as he hit a button on the console. "We
received word of a terrorist threat, they're threatening to detonate a bomb
under this apartment." The view of an ordinary apartment came up on the
holoscreen, along with an address. "You four are to get to this apartment
and stop that from happening."
"Yea yea yea, let's just GO already!" Wildcat muttered as he headed toward
the teleporter. Booster flew down to follow him while Vixen rolled her eyes
before following as well. GA sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, why
did this always have to happen to him?
Unknown Area
"Acero…"
'…my codename…that meant the superiors had a duty for me…and duty was the
only thing I knew. The face of the person I know only as "General" came into
my view from behind the glass window.'
"We have a duty for you, you are to report to the coordinates that we give
you and eliminate the targets we have assigned to you."
'Targets…I flexed my hands, the shimmering claws glinting in the dim light.'
"Understood." 'A piece of paper was poked through the slot of my cell and I
picked up it up to study and once memorized, I was released from the cell
and off to complete my assignment. I would not fail.'
Apartment Complex
It had looked simple and straight forward enough. GA and Wildcat formed one
team that would search the lower levels while Booster Gold and Vixen would
search the top. Unfortunately, that's when things got a little
complicated…especially when the two teams had entered the elevators. The
doors had slammed shut and plummeted down.
"Aaaaaaaah crap!" Wildcat was using the claws of his costume to cling to the
walls of the elevator. "You got any ideas before we become pancakes?" GA
did, or at least he hoped he did. He swiftly kicked open the top hatch of
the elevator and drew out one of his arrows, the grappling type. A quick
shot later, he and Wildcat had managed to escape the elevator car before it
crashed rather loudly at the bottom of the shaft.
Wildcat was livid. "What the hell was that all about!"
GA, on the other hand, had a very bad feeling spreading through his gut. "…I
think this was all a set up." The both of them climbed down the rope until
they managed to pry open the bottom door, which they went through to see
Vixen and Booster Gold waiting for them.
"You're trip took an abrupt descent to?" Vixen had a few scratches while
Booster Gold was unscathed. She dusted herself off. "Looks like this whole
thing was a trap."
Booster Gold had been scanning the area, which consisted of a long metal
hallway that lead to one direction. "And it looks like we have no choice but
to find out what this whole thing is about."
Skeets chirped up as he completed his own scan. "It would appear we're in
some kind of laboratory, it looks abandoned though."
GA notched an arrow to his bow and shrugged. "Guess only one way to go." He
advanced down the hallway, followed the rest of the team. After sometime,
they had traveled through the hallway until it came to a large room, with
computer equipment and such scattered around it.
Vixen looked about with her hands on her hips. "Looks empty to me. I don't
see anything."
"Yea, just some old dusty lab," Wildcat grunted.
Booster Gold scratched his head. "Why would a trap lead us here?" Then the
doors they had just walked through slammed shut, firmly locking them in. "Uh
oh…" Skeets, who was still scanning the area suddenly stopped.
"Booster sir! Something just moved!" Everyone whipped around to where the
robot was looking, but saw nothing but an empty corner.
GA groaned. "Jeez Booster, can't you keep a lid on that thing?"
Skeets was indignant. "But sir, I did see-"
Wildcat then suddenly saw movement out of the corner of his eye. "GET DOWN!"
He charged forward and knocked Booster out of the way as what looked like a
sharpened metal spear shot out of the wall and went right through the spot
where Booster had just occupied.
Everyone else stared in shock as the spear retreated back into the wall and
something melted out of the spot and stood at ready. It appeared to be a
sleek muscled humanoid made of metal, with no features to speak of and a
genderless body. The fingers were formed into lethal sharp claws while the
head was slicked back.
"Target's acquired. Elimination process begun." The thing swiftly charged
them, claws at ready. Its voice was emotionless, and none of them could
pinpoint the thing's gender from the voice.
Wildcat leaped to his feet. "Alright you metal freak, let's see you take me
on for size!" He raised his fist and punched for the mysterious thing. To
his surprise, he watched as a hole appeared in the thing's body, causing his
fist to go right through it. He only had a bit of time to be shocked until
the thing's arm swung forward, shifting into a thick metal tentacle that
slammed him into a nearby wall.
"HEY!" The thing's featureless face spun around at Vixen's shout. She
touched her necklace as the ghostly shape of a tiger appeared. Vixen then
charged, her claws slashing through the thing's body. She smirked, only to
have that smirk vanish as the slash marks in the thing's body simply healed
over.
The thing only seemed to give a moment's thought before its form began to
shift again. This time, it shifted into what looked like a large metallic
dragon that wrapped its tail around Vixen and slammed her into a wall, then
began to slowly crush her. It roared as its jaws lowered, ready to snap her
in half.
"HEY UGLY!" It roared in rage as a small explosion appeared behind its head
and the head snapped around to glare at GA, who was readying another arrow.
"Here's a second helping!" He let loose another arrow, but it went right
through the dragon as it used the same tactic that it had done against
Wildcat. It growled as it stalked toward GA now, not relinquishing Vixen.
"Booster sir, do something!" Booster unleashed a laser blast that was
deflected by the dragon as a shield melded out of its body to protect it. It
gave an angry growl as it now stalked toward Booster.
"Anybody got a plan?" Booster backed up as Wildcat struggled to free Vixen,
not having much luck as the dragon's tail was firmly wrapped around her.
GA squinted as he thought before swiftly pulling out an arrow. "Booster! Hit
the arrow!" He then pulled the bow back and launched the arrow as it flew
above the dragon, before a laser blast from Booster struck it. A large mess
of sticky stuff shot over the dragon, swiftly tangling it. The dragon roared
with rage as it shape shifted back to its original form, still trapped in
the goo, but also relinquishing Vixen who was safely caught by Wildcat. "Now
we get out of here…Skeets, the door!"
The little robot was already by the door control panel, attacked to it with
several wires. "Already on it sir!" The door then creaked open a bit.
"Quick! I put a timer on the door!" GA and Booster quickly rushed through
the door with Wildcat carrying Vixen. They hear the snapping sounds as the
thing freed itself form the goo and gave chase, but the door slammed shut
behind them, preventing it from following, especially when the force field
surrounded the door.
GA looked behind him, but didn't stop running. "Well, that was…interesting."
He placed a finger up to his ear. That's when the entire building suddenly
started shuddering. "Uh oh…"
Abandoned Lab
Acero was furious, the targets had escaped, none of its targets had ever
escaped before! It furiously charged the door as it closed, but gave a
surprised and pained shriek as it struck the force field that had appeared
around the door. It flew backwards as smoke rose off of it.
"No…this unit cannot fail…" It suddenly stopped and held its head in one
hand.
"Johana Acier…child, one day you will find a home and you will be happy." A
kindly looking old woman rubbed the top of a little girl's head, ruffling
the fine black hair.
"But when Sister Ana? When will I find a home?" The girl's dark blue eyes
stared inquisitively at the nun.
"Soon my dear…soon." The conversation was interrupted when several young
girls appeared and waved at the little girl.
"Hey Johana, want to play with us?" They laughed and giggled.
A bright smile broke out over the little girl's face. "Uh huh! Bye Sister
Ana!" She little girl dashed off, disappearing among the throng of her peers
amidst more giggles and laughter.
Acero gasped as the flashback went through its mind. Who was that? It
twitched as it removed its. Then its mission snapped it back to attention,
now that the targets had escaped, that meant the evidence had to be
destroyed. Acero melded back with the metal of the floor and concentrated.
The floors and walls began to warp as Acero asserted its power over them. It
knew that doing so would also threaten the stability of the apartment above,
in the resulting chaos, and then it would make its escape. Acero could hear
the screams of panic from above but that wasn't going to slow it down. Acero
disappeared again, this time melting down toward the sewer pipes of the
city. It would have to return to base…and report its failure.
Sometime later…
GA gave a sigh as he looked around. They had managed to get out of the
apartment and call in reinforcements when they realized that the thing they
had fought had threatened to collapse the entire apartment complex.
Superman looked trouble as he examined the now tilted apartment, they had to
improvise some pillars below to keep the entire place from turning into a
pile of rubble. "What happened?"
GA looked up at him and shrugged. "It's pretty weird." He went onto explain
what they had faced down in the lab.
Superman rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Sounds like some kind of android…you
didn't happen to find a sample did you?"
GA cocked an eyebrow at him. "We were a little occupied you know…"
Skeets suddenly zoomed between the two of them, causing them to jump
slightly. "Oh sir wait! Perhaps Vixen might have something, she managed to
scratch the android." Sure enough, when they examined Vixen's claws after
tending to her injuries for the time being, they found metallic substance
trapped on the tips.
Superman carefully took a sample and examined it. "From the way it behaved,
it might have been nanobots…I'll have Ray look over them and see what he can
find. In the meantime, return to the Metro Tower and rest." GA nodded before
he joined his group was they were teleported away. Superman could only stare
at the silvery substance within the tube…what had that thing been?
Unknown Area
"You failed Acero." The figure's voice was displeased as it stared at the
cowering figure within the cell.
"This…this unite apologizes…it will not fail again…" Acero cowered on its
hands and kept its head down.
"Of course you won't…" The figure's voice was now a poisonous purr. "Next
time you won't…" It turned and soon, the resounding footsteps echoed away.
Acero shuddered slightly as it retreated to a corner of the cell and wrapped
its arms around its knees.
"Hi Charlie! Oh no…did those mean boys beat you up again?" The same little
girl swung her legs on the bench, but sitting next to her was a young boy
with red hair who was sporting some bruises.
"Its nothing Johana, you don't have to worry about me. I can take care of
myself." He boy gingerly rubbed at his bruised cheek.
"It's something Charlie! Why haven't the sisters helped you?"
"They're too busy…you don't need to worry over it Johana." The boy grinned
at her. "Come on, let's go for a walk."
"Ok!" The two of them hopped off the bench and walked down the street.
Acero clutched at its head. Whose memories were these? They weren't its! It
had no memories, it was a tool! Nothing more! But it paused as it stared at
its claws. Something crossed its vision and instead of seeing metallic
claws, it suddenly saw flesh and blood for its hands, but everything soon
returned to normal.
It would have blinked, if it had eyes. What was that? The lights suddenly
clicked off and Acero knew that was a sign of that it should rest. It slid
toward the plain bunk on the wall and lay down. It would sort this out
another time…for now, it had to rest. It could not fail its next mission.
