Chương 9: ISSUE 08 SLEUTH AND SLAVE
Nightfall came faster than a speedster on super-steroids.
Or maybe being constantly stimulated by a hormonally supercharged shape-shifter, and speed-demon made time lose all relativity from Kyle's point of view.
They ate a whole families worth of food in hours. Called it "carbing up". At least that's what he thought he heard. Their mouthes were full of donuts and quadruple decker cheese dipped bacon burgers.
Somehow Ganthet had the gall to look disturbed.
Kyle held a similar look of being disturbed. For other reasons….
She was huge…. And had six pure black eyes. Over seven feet tall and rail thin. But her exoskeleton and ripped physique gave her a hard and bony feel. She didn't seem like a monstrous giant. More like a haunting wraith as she crawled. Extra limbs unfurled from her back. Armor coated her arms in the form of new muscular growth. Her dreads somehow fit the look as they were held back by gravity and her crown of chitin.
"Don't look in her eyes, she sees it as a threat, bro." Impulse whispered across the round table in the meeting dungeon.
"What— like a pitbull?" Kyle asked.
"No, like a werespider." Bunker corrected as he tied on his bandana mask. "Don't dehumanize my beautiful hermana."
"Right….." Kyle said as he looked away from the cieling where the one called Skitter stalked.
Every clink of her pincers on the hard surface made him cringe internally. Or maybe that was just the feeling of her multiple eyes on him.
"She'll warm up to you eventually. Actually, I think she likes you….." Nightwing said from beside Impulse.
"Oh really?" Kyle asked.
"When she first met me, she spit corrosive slime at my face. This is serious progress." Nightwing said the sentence optimistically somehow.
Kyle held back the question of why they'd let him near her knowing that could happen.
"Better than getting stabbed in the stomach." Wonder-Girl commented.
"Most things are better than that, I feel." Solstice added, seemingly seriously considering her words that should've been sarcastic.
Beast-Man burped and silenced the team.
Skitter hissed in response and sneezed as if the smell was physically damaging even from a hundred feet up.
"It's time we adress the elephant in the room." Beast-Man groaned.
Kyle looked around hoping to find the metaphorical tusked outlier.
All he saw were young adult and teenage meta-humans suiting up.
Then everyone looked at him. Even Ganthet.
"What?"
"You're out of uniform, greenie." Impulse pointed.
Kyle looked down at his suit in confusion. "How? This is my suit."
"One, no it's not. That is the original green lanterns suit— minus a thousand points for lacking originality by the way. Even if you wear it well, lo siento pero no." Bunker explained with a finger wag.
"Well, what do you want me to do? Make a new one?"
"Si! Your whole power is conjuration. Even better than mine. Get to crafting, quickly."
"We're in stealth mode by the way so turn off the Christmas lights." Wonder-Girl spat.
Kyle looked to Ganthet.
The Malthusian pointed to his forehead, reminding him it was all in the mind— as if he needed that.
Kyle shut his eyes— more so to avoid the watchful gazes of a teenage speedster, living thundercloud, werespider and Hispanic man in spandex. Wonder-Girl would've been nicer on the eyes if she was…. well, nice.
"Focus." Ganthet's voice cut into his mind.
He did.
He imagined a page laid before him. Like countless other times, he filled it with ideas, designs, concepts. The character designing process was anything but seamless.
It was jarring and sporadic. Ideas didn't come in a steady stream or follow any pattern. The brain didn't work that way when it came to the imagination. Threads and ideas could take you anywhere.
So for a minute straight, Kyle was inconsistent in form.
Sometimes he wore spandex— other times hardlight constructs of armor solidified into knightly metal or technological steel-skin.
Sometimes his mask expanded into a helmet. Or facemask.
There was even a moment where he had wings.
And the crowd went….. mild.
Silence fell as he finished.
The sheet of paper in his mind was a scribbled steaming mess ideas. He was satisfied as he opened his eyes.
In honor of the stealth mode requirement for their upcoming mission, Kyle opted for a predominantly black skintight suit. The lantern logo was smaller, etched into his left breast with a white backdrop. Nothing too crazy. Simple. More so than the other lantern suits. But it didn't stay that way. He didn't have as much training as the others. He needed protection beyond a simple aura, so he crafted metallic emerald gauntlets and boots. Hard and defensive— comprised of his will. The same went for his face mask. It hid more of his identity and would do more to stop a nose break. He'd already experienced too many of those in two weeks.
"Not bad. Not bad at all…." Bunker commented.
"Interesting mask, crabface." Impulse tapped the surface of it at super speed like a gnat in human form.
"Thanks. I figured the domino market was already over saturated." Kyle replied before swatting away the speedster.
"Yea. It's been that way for years." Nightwing agreed as he adjusted his mask, "Anyway, with that finished. I think we're ready to hit the road."
Except they didn't hit the road. They hit the sky. They looked like a circus act inside Nightwings jet— which could've been a stolen spaceship based on the never before seen tech he was sporting in the drivers seat.
Everyone sat comfortably— anxiously, in their seats.
Except Impulse. He was too….. impulsive to stay seated. Instead he settled with zipping around and bugging everyone.
Speaking of bugs. Skitter also didn't care for seating arrangements and instead crawled around the cieling above Kyle.
"She's warming up to you quickly, Lantern." Bunker explained from his seat beside him, "Lucky man. Before we became besties I had to….. well, I guess that's better left unsaid."
"I'm sure it is." Kyle agreed as he peeled his eyes away from Skitter. "I think it's crazy that the werespider who doesn't speak warms up to me before the blonde battle-maiden, though. What's her deal?" Kyle whispered to Bunker as he flicked his chin in her direction.
She sat alone at the back corner of the jet. Even off guard, she was beautiful. Her cosmic threaded skintight black suit hugged her like a lost relative found again. The red gems were like icing on a cake. She had her hood up. Blonde curls bounced and spilled like golden waves from inside the hood along with earbud wires. He could almost hear the Musi—
"Oh hell no." Bunker used one of his psionic constructs, forming a hand to grip Kyle's chin and turn the lantern away from Wonder-Girl. "Bad news, amigo. Very bad."
"What? I was asking a question." Kyle said.
"No, you were having sex with your eyes. What happened to consent by the way?"
"Wha— nothing happened to it…. it's still here. Can we not call me a sex pest for looking at someone? God damn." Kyle suddenly appreciated his bulkier mask. It also hid the reddening of his cheeks.
Bunker nodded, "Fair enough. But I know men."
"Naturally." Kyle mumbled.
Skitter chortled like she agreed.
They hit land, rising above the clouds to further support the cloaking technology of the jet. City lights cut through the fog like stars in reverse.
"To put it simply, long before meta-humans were being hunted by weird shadow cabals and the justice league was awol, that girl was still on the run. And to put it even more simply…. And tragically, she has no powers. She is a human with a curse. Not like Skitter either, there is no real benefits. Even the benefits do nothing but tempt her curse. She's bad news wrapped in caca…. And you are wearing white shoes."
"Actually, they're green." Kyle unbuckled his seat belt and got up. He'd heard enough. He felt the fear. He wanted to fight it.
"No— no, no, no—-" Bunker whispered his disagreements with the idea and tried to grab Kyle only for green constructs of a thousand hands to hold him down.
"Funny." Bunker huffed.
Kyle walked down the aisle with his eyes on her. He was nervous. It almost made him laugh. The feel of sweat on his palms and loss of peripheral vision never hit him with women. At least not since Middleschool.
"Reaching warehouse location in t-ten minutes!" Solstice yelled back to them from beside Nightwing.
Kyle pulled up to Wonder-Girl and took a seat. She smelled like desert sand, strawberry perfume and books.
She sighed and took out her earbuds, "Is it….like lantern customs to go where you aren't supposed to be?"
"Actually it's the literal opposite. You know… space peace keepers and all that." Kyle shrugged as he explained it.
"Where is your chaperone?"
"Ganthet? Huh, chaperone isn't too far off. He had business elsewhere. He likes to be mysterious and annoying in that way."
"Sounds like you two have something in common beyond the color green." Wonder-Girl gave a snappy smile that reminded him of a baboon baring its fangs.
Kyle kept it cool and looked at his fingers, "I'm not blue yet, but I do hope you'd explain why you seem to hate me."
"What?"
"Lantern math, I think." Kyle couldve cursed Guy for injecting the thirty year old dad dialogue into his mind. "Did I do something? Why don't you like me?"
Wonder-Girl looked away from him, laughing to herself, "You aren't used to women not being interested are you?"
"No, I'm not. That also isn't the point." Kyle replied.
"Is that right?"
"It is. I think if I came to your tower looking like killer croc and clayfaces lovechild, you'd still give me the cold shoulder. Why?"
"I don't think I owe you any answers." Wonder-Girl didn't look away from the window.
"No, but I think the you do for the rest of your team. Or else why would they be listening in on our conversation?"
A chaotic clutter of shuffling immediately followed his words as everyone tried to force themselves to seem like they were doing something.
Impulse for once forgot to be impulsive. So did Beast-Man.
Bunker made a construct of a book and pretended to read it.
Solstice eyed the floor like she dropped something.
"Sorry guys, missed the entry point. We're gonna spin around." Nightwing didn't even try to hide it.
"You're like this with everyone, huh?" Kyle questioned.
"It's better this way. And you need to back-up. Don't probe your partners when they're doing you a favor. It's bad business."
"I'm an artist. You think I care about business?" Kyle questioned jokingly.
"Guess not." Wonder-Girl wasn't much for jokes. She put back in her earbud, "If you interrupt my pregame music I'm going to throw you out of this jet."
Kyle gave a salute and got up, "Great conversation."
"ArtISSSt."
Kyle looked to the cieling and found Skitter watching him.
"Did you just speak…?"
***
The warehouse built on top of the research facility wasn't inconspicuous at all. It was massive and comprised of high grade metals. Even though it was abandoned, Kyle could tell it was once heavily guarded. The track marks of heavy duty military vehicles and spec-ops boot prints still remained in the grey sand.
A helicopter landing pad was their choice of entry. It gave them a straight shot into the backdoor.
The thing looked like a chunk of steel.
Once inside the job began.
"My first super hero team-up. And it's sleuthing." Kyle thought, "Honestly better than a battle with some space-titan. I have class in the morning and I'm going to approach it like my schedule wasn't hijacked by a blue alien." Kyle thought as he conjured up constructs of flashlights to follow everyone.
"Show-off." Bunker grumbled.
The inside wasn't as dusty as he would've imagined. Black metal flooring and grey tables filled the interior. Old boxes and shipping containers lay haphazardly— like they were in a rush to complete the project.
Or as Nightwing said, abandon it.
Then he took them to a hatch behind a front desk and they headed into a basement. Unlike titans tower, it wasn't all dark.
It was stark white and spotless. Clear veins and ventricles lined the walls. Inside specks of black were sprinkled about like mold.
"Nanites." Impulse explained, "Through these obstacle courses they trained the metal insects and allowed the operating sources to test their limits. Like an endless on the fly training ground built into the facility. My guess is Black-Beetle was their first candidate but brains don't mix with brawn, buddy."
"They left entire nanites? Doesn't that seem…. unprofessional?" Kyle asked.
"It is. But I've been around worse." Nightwing explained, "You should see Bane's Venom-farms after they're abandoned. He leaves everything. You ever seen a rat on venom?"
"Why would I see a rat on venom?" Kyle asked as they headed down the stairs.
"Good point. Stay pure, kid." Nightwing replied as he flipped his eskrima sticks.
"Calling you kid as if ninety percent of us aren't old enough to drink anyway. Let's prank him after this, greenie." Impulse said.
"I heard that."
"Shut-...."
They hit the bottom stair and all looked to the cieling.
"Up….."
"What?" Kyle questioned as he surveyed the research grounds.
Conveyer belts snaked around the entire area. Prototype bracelets, bionic arms and rings sat at stations half made and half drawn. All assumedly 3d printed models. Attempts at manufactured lantern gears.
"The roof was shorter last time." Nightwing commented.
"What does that mean?" Bunker questioned.
"Nothing good, amigo." Impulse replied.
Then, Skitter hissed and took off like a hound with a fresh scent.
She hopped over the conveyer belts and blasted through a glass container, pouncing on something in the shadows with a snarl.
"What you got, Skitter?" Bunker questioned the shadows as they shifted and let off muffled screams.
A few seconds later and Skitter came out with a webbed up mercenary.
Full kit fresh and in good quality. Expensive. Advanced Kevlar, oxygen/facemask combo, online coms and an assault rifle.
"Functioning guards. Secondary floor level opened. Either this facility is coming back online or it was never abandoned." Nightwing said as he took the mercenaries walkie and ripped off his mask.
The man was middle aged and not as terrified as Kyle would've been if he saw their group.
"Who are you? And who do you work for?" Solstice asked.
"Talk fast!" Beast-Man let his face turn apish to increase the intimidation.
The man smiled.
"I/we am Thrice. We/I are not allowed to divulge in our business assoc—" Thrice went rigid and his eyes flashed purple.
Kyle thought nothing of it until Nightwing cursed under his breath.
"Welcome back, Titans. Nightwing, your detective might is lacking. I fear if Red Robin was still leading this team, you would've surmised this was a trap earlier. A whole warehouse left with all this evidence? Perfectly set up to bring you back in search of more? Really? Either way, you brought a new friend. Thank you for making this easier."
"Psimon." Nightwing swung his eskrima sticks and knocked Thrice out cold, cutting off the enemies mental connection like a light switch.
"Who?"
"Supervillain with telekinetic abilities and mind control…. Oh yea you can also see his brain through his—"
"Impulse, get out of here and contact any active heroes. Aqualad will be the closest and has a sensor paired to your speedforce signature. Generate enough and it'll be like starting an alarm underwater. Get to work." Nightwing explained.
"Got ya!" Impulse gave Kyle a salute and took off for the door across the r—
The explosion knocked everyone back.
Wonder-Girl crashed through a display case. Nightwing flipped through the air and landed on a tilted shipment container. Skitter, Beast-Man and Bunker rolled like tumbleweeds beside Kyle on a matress construct.
They got up just in time to see Impulse held by the throat across the room. The whole front half of the building was atomized even all the floors up.
The figure who held impulse was cloaked in shadows everywhere but his steaming red eyes.
Nightmare fuel to put it lightly.
The figure turned Impulse around to face them. His eyes were purple. A cruel smile twisted his face. Something full of arrogance and posh cruelty.
Psimon got him.
"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by the boy wonder, thank you for bringing a friend. I've decided to bring some as well. I do hope you'll get along. Or not. This is only a prototype from what I'm told. An ephemeral experience if you will. Have fun, Lantern. I won't ask you to hand over your ring. We'll take it with your life."
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
_Avatar0FFury_
_Avatar0FFury_ So, as you can tell, this chapter took a bit longer since it is a bit longer. I didn’t want to split it into three chapters though. feels like that would really slow down the plot. Either way I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading. Who do you think psimon is piloting ? the red eyed man in the shadows is once not often seen in dc fics. at least from my experience.
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