3rd August 13:10 GMT -5

Black Canary. Multiple high level martial arts qualifications. Short ranged sonic attack from the mouth. Since you're primarily a short range melee fighter, his mistake was getting that close to you in the first place."

"Hm. Think you can do better?"

"No sir. But I think I'd fail with more class."

Robin sniggers behind me. Wallace pulls a face as he walks back to the rest of us. As he walks past me to the back of the group I stick out an arm to stop him.

"What?"

"Wallace, I'm going to share with you some wise words which Batman shared with Robin just before the first time he met Wonder Woman."

"O-kay. And they are..?"

"Think clean thoughts, chum." I pat him on the back. He looks a little puzzled, trying to work out whether I'm mocking him or Robin.

Black Canary addresses me again. I just volunteered myself, didn't I? I never learn…

"Is that what Wonder Woman taught you?"

I shrug. "I can fly, move fast, and make attacks from outside a melee specialist's strike range. It just seemed obvious. I'm not strong enough to really spar with Wonder Woman."

"Think you're strong enough to spar with me?"

"I rather think I'm about to find out, sir." I sigh, take a step forward and pull the ring off my finger. Immediately my armour stops glowing.

Black Canary looks puzzled. "You're not planning on wearing your power ring?"

"Wouldn't that rather defeat the object, sir? I mean, if I get that close to someone like you and I have the ring, the first thing I'd do is back away. Only reason I wouldn't would be if it wasn't available. I thought this lesson was about teaching us hand to hand combat?"

I look at the ring sitting in my right hand for a moment, then underarm throw it outside of the arena. I felt bad doing that. Deep breath.

"What if you couldn't back away?"

I frown. "Why wouldn't I be able to back away?"

"Perhaps there was some sort of barrier you couldn't break. Or hostages whose lives would be at risk if you weren't there."

"Then I'd maintain the maximum distance possible. I'm not sure what I'd do about the barrier, but for the hostages I'd try to keep my opponent's attention on me while removing them from the area."

She considers this for a moment, then taps her left foot twice. The arena area shrinks so that rather than being near the middle, we're now both near the edges. "Put your ring back on."

That's, that's, what?

I just stand there for a moment. "Are you sure, sir?"

She loosens her muscles and rolls her neck. "Yes."

"Sir, you understand that that thing isn't on cadet mode or anything. It is a fully functional power ring."

"I've sparred with Lanterns before."

Kid Flash chips in. "What was it you called them? Muscle brains?"

"That's not what I s… Uuuhrr."

I stick out my left hand and want it back. There's a slight jolt as it flies back onto my ring finger. My armour relights. Huh, hadn't noticed that Kon was standing on the other side of the circle.

I've warned her… Right, this is happening. How to go about it? We're about three metres apart. She said that it's always best to act. I need to look like the most passive person ever to step into a ring. I need her to believe that I'll hesitate, that I don't know what I'm doing.

Shouldn't be too hard. Even with the ring, that's pretty much how I feel.

I crouch slightly.

"You're completely sure about this."

She's looking me right in the eyes. I intentionally don't make them orange.

"Yes."

"I'm not… Errr…"

"Not what?"

I stand up straight again. "I'm not going to get in trouble with Green Arrow about this, am I?"

"He knows better than that."

I raise my fists, then lower them. "Look, would you mind if I put a barrier around the fighting area? I'm a bit worried about what happens if I miss you and hit a wall or something."

She exhales, and rolls her eyes. "If it makes you feel better."

I point my left hand out to the side, and extend a barrier construct directly from the ring. She might know that I never do that, but if she thinks about me in terms of what the Greenies do it'll look normal. The barrier forms much more slowly than I am capable of creating it, and once it's in place I leave my left hand sticking out slightly. As if I have to leave it there.

I duck my head down and bring up my fists in a poor imitation of a boxer's pose, left hand forwards. I'm right handed, but with a little luck she'll think about me in terms of a ring-assisted brawler. I bend my legs slightly. I probably look like a complete idiot to my team mates. But… If I can win, their opinion of me will dramatically improve. If I don't, well, then I've only done as badly as Wallace.

"Okay then. Er. Three, t-."

The countdown may have been pushing it, but it did cause her to focus on me, preparing for my charge on 'one'. As I start to say 'two' orange manacles on orange chains extrude at the speed of thought from the barrier directly behind her. One locks around her neck, four more capture her upper and lower legs, two get her upper arms and a larger chain with no clamp wraps itself around her torso. A fraction of a second later she's yanked backwards off her feet and pinned to the barrier. An opaque mask forms around her head, blocking her vision and preventing her from opening her mouth to use her scream. The chains grow, removing her capacity for movement completely. Feedback through the constructs lets me know that she's struggling, but she doesn't have the raw strength to break them and can't get any leverage. Dropping the barrier around the fighting area, I float her over to next to where Kon is standing, rotate her so that her back is facing down, and remove the binding constructs. She drops ten centimetres to the ground with an astonished expression on her face. The computer beeps my victory.

"One."

I'm going to die now, but I got the result I wanted. Kon's smiling again.

There's silence as Black Canary pulls herself up. I'd offer to help, but I haven't moved from my starting position and I'm not sure that I can at the moment. Fear is warring with smugness for dominance in my head. It feels tingly. Everything's a bit unreal.

More so than normal.

A huge view window appears to my left, Batman's face filling it. Oh, thank goodness.

"Batman to the cave."

My team, Mister J'onzz and Black Canary walk to optimal viewing distance of the screen. Trembling slightly, I manage to turn to face it.

"Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary."

The head and upper torso of a man appear in the top left of the screen. Pale skin, pointy ears… No, not a man. A robot. That's Amazo. Comic Amazo, not Justice League Unlimited Amazo.

"The attacker was capable of attacking, then duplicating-"

The view pulls back. We see Amazo standing in a ruined street. He looks right, then grabs the oncoming Superman, spins and uses him to batter away Red Tornado and the Flash.

"-the powers and abilities of his opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements-"

Amazo hurls Superman away, then starts blazing away with heat vision.

"-which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."

"Whaaw. One guy with the powers of the entire League?"

Wallace, stop being impressed and start thinking. Can this version of Amazo use multiple powers simultaneously? How mentally sophisticated is it? I know that machines can use the green light, but if it doesn't have its own wants and needs it shouldn't be able to use the orange. On the other hand, if it is mentally sophisticated I can probably assimilate it. Does it gain weaknesses as well as strengths? Not sure trying kryptonite would have been an option…

Oh. I don't know if this Batman has any.

I need to find time to go through the original footage of the fight. See if I can work some of it out for myself. And I need to try to remember what Kid Amazo's name is. If I could get to him before he went off the rails…

"In the end it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."

Four hours? I can't imagine what that sort of fight would have been like. The devastation it would cause… What was Amazo there for? Hang on, where was there? Are we talking about… Where were they from… Star City? I hope this summary gets followed by an actual briefing.

"An android? W-who made it? T. O. Morrow?"

At least someone's thinking. Well done Robin.

"Good guess, Robin. But Red Tornado doesn't think so."

Mister J'onzz answers instead. "The technology bears the signature of.. Professor Ivo."

Something else I haven't bothered researching. Mad scientists. I had… Have? I have a good science GCSE and a reasonable chemistry A-Level, but if these people can do what even other genius leaders-in-their-fields struggle to comprehend it didn't seem worth the time.

Also, I'm going to have to remember not to call him Professor Robotnik. This parallel doesn't even have Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Ivo… But Ivo's dead."

Thanks Kaldur, that's actually a pretty good excuse for me not knowing anything about him. Shouldn't take me long to read at least a summary of the League's file.

Black Canary answers his nonquestion. "So we all thought. Or hoped."

Am I..? Is death a revolving door here? I'm not sure how well that works for me. If it is, then at some point I'm going to have to find out how death interacts with assimilation. Is the existence of an afterlife verifiable?

"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralised we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate STAR Labs facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo -or anyone- tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

"Yyyyes!" Wallace likes the idea, then. "Road trip."

I check to see how Kon's responding, but he seems to have shifted back into neutral. It's a mission, right?

Kaldur's personal communication computer thing beeps. How advanced does a thing have to be to stop being a communicator and start being a computer? Or am I using outdated terms? Since I have the ring I haven't bothered getting either.

"Coordinates received. On our way."

They turn to leave. I guess we're not getting a full briefing then.

"Sir.. s, I have a question, and a request."

Black Canary turns to me. "What is it?"

"May I ask why you haven't simply had me or one of the Greenies fly one of the larger components into space? That way, even if someone recaptured all of the rest, they still can't reactivate the android."

Batman lowers his head slightly. "I considered it, but we have no way of knowing whether or not this will turn out to be an isolated incident. If there are more androids like this one out there, we need STAR Labs working on this as soon as possible."

I nod. Makes sense.

"What is your request?"

"I'd… Like you to unlock the League's files on kryptonite radiation for me."

Black Canary starts, then exchanges a concerned look with Mister J'onzz. Batman appears unfazed. "Why is that?"

"I've been studying Kryptonian physiology, the way their powers work. As far as I've been able to tell with the sources available to me, kryptonite radiation works by disrupting a mechanism intrinsic to those powers. So, if the android has Superman's abilities then it should also have his vulnerabilities. I don't know enough about kryptonite radiation at present to replicate it. If it came to a fight, I'd like to have that option available to me, and it's hardly practical for me to fly to the Rao system to get some."

Batman appears to think about it. "Information on kryptonite is kept highly secure for a reason. If, and only if the android is reactivated, will I consider doing as you ask."

I nod again. Shouldn't be surprised that's a red line, really. "Thank you sir."

I turn, and follow my team mates to the hangar.

Hurry up and wait. That's how it goes, isn't it? Can't say I blame the League for wanting to make sure that everything is set up just right, but three hours in a muddy wood is pushing it. I've read Ivo's summary, and I'm now going into the detail. He was a pioneer in the field of cybernetics, but made his advances through vivisection -including a few homeless people- and brute force trial-and-error integration. The Locus Industrial Group covered up what he'd done, and made it look like he'd made his progress through more acceptable means. He made himself and them a lot of money and a great deal of good publicity… Until Red Tornado was able to infiltrate his lab and show the world how he'd really achieved his results. He escaped just ahead of retribution, and went underground with his money and research.

This was back in the eighties, before the League got together. Since then his work has mostly come to light during the clean up of various other high-tech crime groups. His signature cybernetic interfaces and advanced weapons, as well as more unusual pieces. He also seemed to be collecting other forms of advanced technology for himself, though he wasn't slow to abandon a doomed theft attempt if his own capture looked likely.

The man himself was notoriously difficult to track down. The League finally cornered him on Santo Pietro, a small island off the south coast of Italy. Once the ground team found him they also discovered that he'd imprisoned the inhabitants and replaced them with Human-seeming robots, who attacked to liberate their master once he was caught. His apparent death in the aftermath, combined with the lack of any more recent sightings or technology had led the League to assume that he was permanently out of the picture.

Worth mentioning that all modern cybernetics owe at least a small amount to his work. If Victor Stone ever becomes Cyborg here, it'll be in part because some poor bastard named Casey Williams was strapped to a table and cut apart in the name of science.

I don't really remember him from the comics. I guess the Kid Amazo thing will be a bust, given the man's age. Certainly there's no record of a daughter, and if he had one she'd probably be in her thirties by now, noticeably past the age she was in the Kid Amazo comic. Ah well.

The reaction of my team mates to my victory over Black Canary was perhaps milder than I was expecting. Kon was most happy about it. Not sure if he's happy for a friend or if it's a 'show-the-League-what-we-can-do' thing. He actually put his arm around my shoulder when he congratulated me. Odd really, but until he did that I think he was the only team member who'd never touched me. Kaldur shook my hand when the team first got together, just before Kon and I had to deal with that telepathic flashback nonsense. Still haven't got around to looking into anti-telepath techniques. M'gann in the kitchen before Mister Twister, Robin on top of the mountain afterwards, Wallace on Santa Prisca… Yes. Even when I tried to help him up when we were fighting Mister Twister he just pushed me away.

Robin was briefly amused, but switched to full mission focus almost immediately. His 'genuinely amused' laugh is a lot less creepy than his 'antagonising the bad guys' laugh. A nod from Kaldur, a smile from M'gann… Wallace…

"I still can't believe you did that!"

I rub my brow with my right hand.

"Kid Flash, what exactly is it about my actions which defies your belief?"

We're sitting on motorcycles just behind the trees from the field where the Amazo parts are being loaded. Or rather, will be loaded once we actually get started. After I finished the Ivo summary I had a little ride around. Since failing my driving test practical for the second time -all minors, I should point out- the largest thing I've driven is a quad bike, and I only drove that once. In a desert.

I did tell them that I don't have a driving licence.

Doesn't seem that hard, and I suppose it would rather give the game away if the bike glowed orange the whole time. Nevertheless, I've had the ring scan it thoroughly and it tells me that it can take over should the need arise.

"You were just.. just.. standing there -looking stupid, by the way- and then.. just…"

"Looking stupid was part of the plan."

He unisquints. "Really?"

"There was no way I could beat her in a fist fight, so I didn't try. I wanted her to assume that I was hopeless, and to be looking at me when I started my attack. My pose and the countdown achieved that aim."

Kaldur looks over and nods. "She lost sight of your advantages and in doing so let you take control of the situation. She allowed you to engage on terms where you were strong and she was weak."

"Rrrrright… Actually Kid Flash, I was meaning to ask: you didn't seem to be moving particularly fast during your bout-."

"Except straight down!"

"Dude!"

"During your bout, and I rather had the impression that your reflexes were as fast as your movements?"

He shrugs. "Yeah?"

"From your point of view, wouldn't her leg sweep have been really slow?"

He averts his gaze. "I kinda have to be moving a bit for that to work."

Oh. When he was super speed walking from one side of the hockey table to the other I had assumed he was just showing off. Guess it's kind of like Ravager and her adrenaline inhaler? I wonder if there's a way around it.

"Have you tried vibrating on the spot? Or intentionally accelerating part of your body?"

"Vibrating on the spot digs a hole in whatever I'm standing on, and my super speed's pretty much all or nothing. I'm either moving or I'm not."

"The Flash can vibrate parts of his body."

Wallace turns his head towards Robin. "Yeah, well, I can't."

"That was another issue I wanted to raise; you said gained super speed by duplicating Mister Garrick's formula, yes?"

"Well, Uncle Barry might have modified it a bit, but basically, yeah. What about it?"

"I was going through the records, and it seems that the current Flash is faster than both his predecessor and you. I was wondering if you knew why that was?"

He slumps slightly. "Uncle Barry created the formula under controlled conditions. And with better equipment. I mean, Mister Garrick was in a lab, but that was back in the forties. I was using stuff from the attic. Why d'you ask?"

"It seemed to be a sore point with you. I was thinking… Well, I can't promise…"

"What?"

"I was thinking that if I had a good enough scan of yourself and your uncle, I might be able to work out precisely what changes the formula made to your body, and to his. If I could work out the different ways you had both been affected-."

"You might be able to fix the differences! Make me as fast as him?"

I shrug. "It's not impossible. But, like I said, I can't promise. I don't know enough about how it works. I mean, have you tried-?"

Kaldur beeps his bike's communicator.

"They're finishing loading now. Helmets on."

I put my helmet on my head, and activate OrangeVision. When I do, it's as if the helmet has disappeared. My vision is totally unobscured, and the coming dusk is illuminated like clear day. I'll be heading to Manhattan with Robin and Kon. Speaking of Kon, what's he looking at..?

Oh. Of course. Superman.

Kon snaps his head forwards, scowling. Did he make eye contact through the trees? Does Superman's x-ray vision work like in Smallville where it gives him actual x-ray footage, or like in New Adventures where it can peel away layers while leaving the image in full colour? As far as I know Kon can't do that, so maybe he magnified the view between the leaves?

There's a general revving of engines as the others don their helmets, and M'gann shifts to 'Human mode'. Kon and Robin have red bikes, Wallace has a yellow one, Kaldur and M'gann's are blue and mine's orange. Was this painted for me? Has it been sitting in a shed because no one told me motorcycles were being provided? I say motorcycles; mine and M'gann's look more like scooters on steroids. Does learning how to use it represent an efficient use of my time? I'd've said not, but here I am.

Heh. Just realised that I'm wearing my light combat bike gear on an actual bike.

Now, let's see. Ignition button, right. Engine's on. Gears are automatic. It's got gyroscope stabilisers, and they'll definitely be in use. There's a sort of super GPS and some integrated weapons, but they're inferior to what the ring can do and I don't intend to use them. As we prepare to leave I just about stop myself from creating construct stabiliser wheels.

"Star Boston is a go."

"Star Manhattan is go."

The second voice was Green Arrow. Didn't recognise the first. Someone -I assume Batman- gives the signal and the armoured trucks begin to move out. The first three head east towards Boston, then the second three move out west for their journey to New York. Aside from the armour of the trucks -which looked pretty darn thick to me- there are also soldiers of some sort on board. Not sure quite what branch of the military or law enforcement they're from. Maybe I should find out and get Donna a career pamphlet?

Once the trucks get out onto the road, Kon and Robin twist the accelerator and move out, followed by Kaldur, M'gann and Wallace. Taking a deep breath, I gingerly turn the handle.

Woooookay… Okay. Under control. I take a right out of the woodland, and with the road ahead empty apart from my team mates and our charge I increase my acceleration further. Glad I'm doing this in America. I know Jeremy Clarkson goes on about how dull US roads are to drive on but I think long and straight is about my level.

As I leave the starting area I risk a quick look at the assembled League members. I see Green Arrow and The Flash watching us go, while Captain Atom and Red Tornado take flight. Superman crouches slightly as he prepares to launch, but Batman lays a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Wonder Woman's next to them, and she looks like she's saying something? Probably the follow up on the Ivo investigation. I suppose it's still possible that someone is building on his work rather than it actually being him. Not like he can sue for breach of patent.

Standard mission process is… I tap my helmet communicator. The ring is better but there's no harm in following established process. Plus, this requires less mental focus and doesn't drain the ring's power.

"Orange Lantern two eight one four, comms check."

"Robin, reading you five by five."

"Superboy here, I hear you."

"Sergeant Ramones, truck hears you fine."

I experience a moment of confusion as we join the main motorway before remembering yes, Americans drive on the right, we're supposed to be feeding on from this side. A quick review of the route shows me that it will be at least half an hour before the trucks can split up. Really, if they're all going the same way they might as well have just sent one truck. I switch my comm to 'transmit to team only'.

"Robin, I realise that I'm probably trying to teach my gran how to suck eggs here, but we have put tracking devices on the android parts, right?"

"Ch, obviously."

"I mean, one to find, one not to find, one that broadcasts after a certain period of time…"

"Batman's got it covered, Oh El."

I nod, though there's no way he can see me as he's well in front of me.

In other circumstances I might have enjoyed the scenery, but scootering is too new to me for me to take my attention off the road. There's very little traffic around. Doesn't that make us a bit obvious? I remember when Bucky got hold of Captain America's shield after his death. Tony Stark had three armoured cars leave the storage facility by different routes, then sent the car that actually contained the shield a couple of hours later with a single superhero inside.

"Did Batman put decoy robot parts in the other trucks?"

"Eh, wasn't time to make them look realistic enough."

If it turns out we are the decoy, the others will be irate. Makes sense to me, though.

"You know Canary's gunna want a rematch, right?"

Oh, he was saving it up. That is more in character. "I suspected."

"She'll probably use you for every demonstration."

"I doubt that she's that vindictive."

"You punked her in front of the class."

"I'm not a good match up for her."

Kon joins in. "Because you're much more powerful than she is."

Robin dissents. "Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig."

"No no. It's not about power. It's like… I'm at my strongest blocking direct physical attacks, right? And that's what she uses. My constructs can't hold someone as strong as Kon or Wonder Woman, but they can reliably hold baseline Humans, and she is, physically, a baseline Human. Like you and I are. She's agile, but it's easy for me to stop her being able to move."

"Are you saying you think you could take Batman?"

There's an edge to Robin's voice. I'd rather he not try and find out. "Batman beats people in my weight class through careful study and preparation. He can't really research my background without talking to me, because none of it happened on this parallel. I imagine that he's been studying the footage of me, probably knows how I'll respond to different situations better than I do myself, and he's probably working on some sort of anti-Lantern gear or techniques in his spare time, but until that's complete… Yeah, I could probably beat him in a straight fight if he was limited to using his standard equipment."

"Whatever."

There's a break for a few minutes as I focus on driving. Then Kon asks a question. "If you're a bad match up for her, what do you think's a bad match up for you?"

"Telepaths, 'cause they can mess up my ability to use the ring. Tested it with M'gann once and it takes her about eight seconds to reduce my construct strength to the point where I can't even float myself. Maybe… Magic users? Simple attack spells shouldn't be a problem, but I don't know how my constructs interact with the more… Abstract stuff. You're not a particularly good match up in a spar, because I don't really want to hurt you and you're too tough for my gentler approaches to work."

"Last time we sparred, you slammed my head into a wall."

"Big baby, your skull's far tougher than the wall. And I only did that because I couldn't hit you hard enough with constructs alone, or bind you in the way I bound Canary. If I was seriously fighting a Kryptonian, I'd go for sonic energy projection constructs."

"I know I wouldn't wanna get hit by one of those again."

"Attack where your enemy's vulnerable."

And Robin rejoins the conversation. "So aside from telepathy, what else are you vulnerable to?"

"HAHAhahahaha!"