19

Avery Carlton Sunderland scowled as he stepped out of his limo and surveyed the damage to Cryptarch Industries headquarters. The older man had not been pleased when he had been informed in the middle of his business trip that one of the subsidiaries of his main company had some under some sort of attack, but he had assumed it was some sort of corporate espionage. Now seeing the building in person though, he realized that the message at been more literal than he had originally thought. It was hour later and there were still firefighters and police cordoning off the building. They let him pass though; he had called ahead to let them know he was coming, and they knew better than to interfere with Sunderland.

A quick sweep of the inside did not improve his mood one bit. Much of the basement lab and the equipment therein had been completely destroyed, and for some reason several of the walls had massive holes and structural damage extending all the way down from the top floor. And yet still none of the various technicians uselessly milling about the place could give him a straight answer!

Eventually Sunderland hunted down the one man who should absolutely know what was going on (because if he didn't he would shortly be out of a job). He found the man in the main server room, located near the center of the building. Aside from the basement lab it was the most well-fortified room in the building, and thankfully was left untouched. In addition to the server racks lining the walls, the center of the room was dominated by an ABACUS-3 supercomputer that did most of the company's data analysis. Curiously enough there was a video camera set up on a tripod pointed at one of the monitors attached to the mainframe, but Sunderland ignored that and focused on the man fiddling with it. "Hank." He said sharply.

The man started and turned away from the monitor covered in rapidly scrolling text. "General!" he said in surprise as he straightened, and Sunderland did not fail to notice how he had to physically stop himself from giving a salute out of reflex. "I-I didn't know you were coming."

Normally Sunderland would remind his old subordinate that both their military days were behind them, but at the moment he was too angry to bother. "Neither did I. Then I was informed that something attacked one of my companies, and not a single damn person can tell me what it was. So what. The hell. Happened here?"

One of the reasons that Sunderland had made Hank Mitchel the CTO of Cryptarch Industries (aside from his technical expertise) was that the man knew how to cut through the shit and explain things. It was only a moment before Hank regained his composure and said "The police are still assembling the picture, but it looks like this is Meta related, possibly League business. There were reports of a man shooting lightning and a flying woman trailing fire chasing after some sort of living cloud. Last anyone saw they were headed in this direction. And given the things that happened here, I'd wager the cloud was a sort of all-consuming techno-swarm."

Sunderland gave a disgusted snort, but his anger faded a little at the news (or at least was redirected). Of course it was some metahumans causing a mess again. Damn freaks always did. And the League was almost as bad as the criminals for how unaccountable they were. Sunderland could send them a complaint over the damages, but all he would get in return was a half-assed apology. Small mercy that with Cryptarch being a military contractor they essentially had federal insurance against metahuman related damages. But that still didn't account for the time they'd loss as they rebuilt everything. "What's the setback estimate?"

"Well, the building can be repaired, but a few parts are unusable. There servers are also out of commission until they've been properly scrubbed. That on top of the material and technology destroyed in the basement, it will be about 3 to 4 months before we're back at full production."

The former general's teeth clenched "Months? I need that data for Project Weedkiller in a few weeks!"

Hank cringed a little. "It's worse than that. Something, a program, managed to get into the supercomputer. From what I can tell it originated from the prototype molecular assembler just before its destruction; we had it hooked up so that it could run diagnostics and double check results."

Sunderland pinched the bridge of his nose. That supercomputer was one of the most advanced machines you could get for commercial purposes. It wouldn't just be a cost issue to replace it, the things just weren't mass produced. It would take time for another one to be built. "Do we have to replace the entire company network?" He asked.

"Thankfully, no. The building's connection to the outside internet was cut the moment the lockdown protocols were engaged. We're scrubbing all the local computers to be sure, but it looks like only the main computer has been compromised. And nothing's gone out since then."

The older man felt a small bit of relief at that. "Alright. So what exactly is it, a virus? Probably trying to steal data for other organizations or the black market…" He mused. Considering Cryptarch handled some of the US military's encryption, it was possible that the company had been the target of this whole fiasco from the start.

Hank paused for a moment and shifted uncomfortably. "To be honest… I'm not sure. I thought it was at first, especially when it started rewriting parts of the OS, but… Sir, the computer has gotten faster."

That was not was Sunderland was expecting. "What do you mean faster?"

The man gestured frantically. "I mean it's doing things which I thought were algorithmicly impossible! We had a lineup of mass encrypted data on the mainframe for it to process for a week, and it's already done it in a couple of hours! Then it made whole new cryptographic algorithm that was better than anything else we have on file! The program is constantly parsing and analyzing any information that it finds, and it's changing its own code as it does so!" He said, his tone filled with a sort of awe. "It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

Sunderland was not a scientist or engineer, and the science he did know was centered around more biological matters. But he did have a least of passing knowledge of technological matters, and this 'program' was reminding him of something. "Do you think that it's an AI?"

Hank snapped out of his thoughts and looked a bit sheepish. "Maybe, but I'm not sure. It's certainly done things of its own accord, but it hasn't tried to communicate or behaved in any way I'd expect an intelligence would. All it's done is parse data, any data it can get. It has broken down and rebuilt its OS several times, but only when it ran out of other things to do. The moment more data is introduced, it stops and focuses on the new stuff. If it was trying to bootstrap itself to more intelligence I figure it would prioritize that instead."

The older man frowned at that. "'More data introduced'? And how did that happen?"

"I put in a few flash drives with the data from Sunderland Corporation you sent." The other man replied before he held up his hands. "Everything's air gapped, and I destroyed drives immediately after I did so. I've already got the results here." He offered the older man a sheaf of paper.

Sunderland scowled as he snatched the papers from the other man, but the expression faded as he started reading. The data that had been given to the computer had been relating to several events and phenomena involving a certain… chemical formula that had been proving troublesome as of late, and he wanted to know more about it. But the conclusion the computer had come to… "But that would mean he's-" he started to mutter in shock before he remembered where was and shut up. "I see." He eventually said before looking back at Hank. "How would this kind of situation normally be handled?"

The CTO snapped out of his thoughts before putting on a grimace. "Well… it's a foreign program that's taken over the OS. Normally we'd do a full wipe of the system and reboot from scratch, plus checking all the hardware bits to make sure nothing got damaged or that the foreign code got really creative."

"And how do you actually want it to be handled?"

Hank gave a giddy smile. "If I can figure out how this program is doing what it is and replicate it, the gains would be massive. And we can still make use of it now if we're careful. I can get the output data to display on the monitors and record it on high speed cameras. It's not the most efficient method of data transfer, and we'll have to have the other servers parse it, but its still orders of magnitude better than before. What do you think sir?"

Sunderland stared at the computer for a long minute as thoughts rolled about in his head, ideas and possibilities dancing though his brain. Eventually, a wicked grin crept over his face.

"That there's a certain… thing, I think this can help us with."

---------------------​

Diana fought down the urge to stretch as she shifted her chair, idly noticing that several of her compatriots around the U-shaped table were doing the same. To be honest, she wasn't really tired as much as frustrated. When the Justice League had gotten word that Roy had found a League of Shadows base the call had gone out to everyone available to help investigate. Herself and Clark had joined in the event strength was required, and Bruce and Ollie of course were already on the case. They managed to get J'onn, Hal, Shayera, and Katar as well, and now the lot had convened in the Watchtower to go over what they learned.

Which wasn't much.

"…so in short, we got nowhere." Hal said. "I scanned every damn speck of dirt on that rock and I found nothing. If I didn't know any better I'd say that island had been abandoned for years. You sure Roy gave you the right coordinates?"

"…Yes." Bruce said after a moment. "The structures on the island may have been rubble, but there was clear evidence of recent explosive detonations. The League of Shadows has covered their tracks well. Again." It was only because she had known him for so long that Diana could hear the faint tone of frustration beneath Bruce's growl. The League of Shadows had been antagonizing the man since the very beginning of his crime fighting career, and Diana knew how much he wished to be rid of the organization that represented a twisted reflection of his ideals.

"If you ask me, we should have had more people on this." Katar remarked as he made a gesture. "Are we really all that you could scrounge up?"

"The rest of the League was either preoccupied with other pressing matters or were in the middle of our efforts at closing down Intergang." Bruce replied. "You've read the brief. Stepping up our efforts to prevent their… backer from gaining a foothold on Earth takes top priority. Even versus the League of Shadows."

"Considering how thinly stretched we are with that matter, we are fortunate that the junior team was able to thwart the Shadows latest plot." J'onn said.

"Speaking of which, just how did the team fare?" Ollie asked. "I heard about STAR Labs, but I assume they managed to keep the doctor safe long enough to stop it there."

"Yes, though the circumstances of the mission changed rather dramatically partway though." Bruce said with a hint of annoyance. "Again."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ollie asked with an arched eyebrow.

"The Fog apparently gained limited sentience after STAR labs, and destroyed the means of tracking it while killing the Shadows agent responsible for it. The team was forced to hunt it down and destroy it before it secured a means of self-replication."

"…We've gotta start vetting these missions better." Ollie said before he face palmed. "For Christ's sake, these are supposed to be easy ones! I don't want to have to tell Artemis's mom she got killed on one of these things!"

J'onn on the other hand had a different opinion. "While your concern is valid, I am proud of my niece and the team. They have triumphed against challenges which would have given even us some trouble."

"Yeah, well… still think we should be easing them into it a bit more than that."

J'onn's face fell a bit. "You are not the only one to think that."

"How is he doing?" Diana asked, the subject clear to both of them.

"Fairly well, if a little tense." J'onn replied, and with a wave of his hand the holo-emitters in the table came to life. The holoscreen resolved itself into a set of videos of Jacob and J'onn training in the Mountain, each morphing into different shapes as they tried to gain leverage over each other. "He has thrown himself into his studies and training, and he has made respectable progress over the past week. On a personal level though, I am worried that he is a little too focused. M'gann expressed a few concerns over how reclusive he has become."

"He'll be fine." Bruce assured. "He knew about the risks of being a superhero long before he came to us, maybe even better than us."

Ollie grunted. "Yeah, but from what I've heard he's not talking with Dinah, so I might want a second opinion on that."

Eyes inexorably turned to Diana, and she rolled her eyes. Normally Red Tornado would be the best to talk about the man, but he wasn't there as this wasn't a formal League meeting. And since Bruce was being… Bruce, that left her as the only other one present who had spent the most (meaningful) time with him. The superheroine hummed. "He has a good head and a good heart. He is not as inclined towards conflict as I thought he would be, but that is hardly a bad thing. Unsure of himself, but wants to do the right thing. It may be a bit rough, but I'm certain with a little support he will come out stronger for it." She looked towards Clark. "His temperament reminds me a little of you in the early days, actually."

The man straightened a little in surprise before he rubbed his chin. "Really? Hmm, maybe I could have another chat with him."

Bruce shot the man a strange look, but before Diana could question it Ollie spoke up again. "Well, that's something. While we're on the subject of new arrivals, what do you think of the team leader?"

Diana smiled as she said "Starfire would have fit in well back on Themyscira. She has the heart of a warrior, and the will of a leader. I expect great things from her, and I believe she's potential League material."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were helping that along yourself." Eyes turned to Shayera, who gave a little shrug with her wings and a smirk. "Not that I'm complaining. Spirits know the League could use more women. Whatever happened to that other apprentice of yours though?"

"She wanted to focus on her studies until she finished High School." Diana explained. "I haven't abandoned her for a new student if that is what you're thinking."

Meanwhile on the holoscreen, the image had switched to footage of Koriand'r and Jacob in the sparring ring both doing an admirable effort to knock the other over. Kordiand'r's flight made it difficult for Jacob to get solid leverage, but by the same token he would just change his shape and limbs any time she tried to pin him down in kind.

The fight on the holoscreen finally came to a head when Jacob tried to dodge a punch by slipping through Koriand'r's legs. She saw this coming though and flipped in the air, grabbing her opponent and using his momentum to hurl him out of the ring. Jacob went flying head over heels smashing upside down into a wall and collapsing into a heap. Koriand'r promptly flew over to him and pulled him to his feet. There was no sound, but given the gestures of the two it looked like Jacob was trying to placate her as to not fuss over him. That was until he noticed a cut along her arm and promptly started fussing over her.

"So, are those two..." Heads turned to look at Hal as he trailed off, gesturing vaguely as the image of the pair.

Diana arched an eyebrow in amusement as she glanced back at the image, but Bruce's eyes narrowed. "That is not relevant to the current discussion." He said flatly. "You told me earlier about information you acquired on Machina, particularly on his origins. Perhaps now is a good time to share it, at least until the next official meeting."

Hal coughed awkwardly into his hand before he said. "Err, right. Well, unfortunately I can't really confirm anything that may or may not have happened in Vega. I did a flyby around the perimeter of the system to see if I could pick up any stray communications relating to those two, but I got nothing. Doesn't really mean anything though, I doubt the Psions would advertise the loss of their science experiments."

He leaned forward. "But, I did make a stop at Oa. I happened to be nearby when Jon sent me a copy of the scan of those nanites he's made up out of, so I figured I'd take a look at the archives to see where they came from. I thought it was weird how our rings weren't able to identify the origin of something that advanced, but hey, it's a big universe and our rings' databases focus on the sector we're assigned to. But when I queried the archive, things got weirder."

"You didn't find anything?" Diana asked.

"Didn't say that. The search tripped some red flags and before I knew it I had a pair of Alpha Lanterns escorting me to the Guardian's chamber." Hal scowled. "All I got off the archive were references to restricted files."

The heroes around the table looked at each other with trepidation. Thus far the Guardians of the Universe had seemed fairly reasonable to the League, but this behavior towards one of their own for asking questions was concerning. "Did they explain what the problem was?" Bruce asked.

"Not even a little." Hal said with a frustrated growl. "I told them about Machina and how he came to us, and they just ordered me to 'keep an eye on him' and sent me on my way. The Guardians clearly know something about what he is, but this is the first time I've seen them refuse to talk about something when asked."

"That is… ominous." Katar said after a moment. "If the Guardians are expressing worry about just what Machina is, we may have to be ready to take action."

The Thanagarian did not specify what he meant by 'action', but those around the table could guess. It was Diana's turn to scowl as she said "Machina has been nothing but cooperative and helpful since he arrived. If you are suggesting that he-"

"No one is suggesting that." Bruce cut her off. "We don't have enough information to take any sort of action, but we will need to keep our eyes open. If we're lucky Machina's collaboration with Kord and Roquette may reveal what the Guardians are concerned about."

Diana let out a breath as talk turned back to other matters, though part of her still worried this would create more trouble for Jacob in the future. Everyone had enough things to deal with at the moment.

--------------------​

Deep inside Lexcorp headquarters in Metropolis, Lex Luthor stepped through an elaborate array of biometric security devices and into a small, hidden room that very few people knew about. It was very sparsely equipped with only a small mainframe and several screens, though anyone technologically inclined would realize that this was some of the best communication equipment on the planet. Well, the best human made communication equipment in any case, but that was a point of pride for the man who took position in the center of the room.

Four of the monitors came to life and revealed portraits of Luthor's less well known partners, though three of them were merely silhouettes. That particular bit of obfuscation had always stuck him as pointlessly theatric; All of those who worked at the highest level of their little joint venture knew who the others were, and it wasn't like you couldn't guess the person's identity from their silhouette. Ra's al Ghul always wore a high collar cape, Vandal Savage was built like a small mountain, and the Brain was literally a brain inside a metal pillar. It was mostly a means of looking impressive in front of their subordinates.

The one whose image was clear was Sensei, and he did not look overly happy. "Masters, I am afraid that the mission was a failure. Partway through transferring the files from STAR labs, the connection became… erratic, and I lost contact with Professor Ojo. It seems that the weapon somehow gained a mind of its own. I… the Professor did not make it."

There was a moment of silence before Ra's said "A pity. I suppose it is a small mercy that the young heroes managed to clean up this mess for us. Though their apparent competence is becoming something of an irritation."

"The way this entire operation developed should not have happened." Savage rumbled. "Pray tell, how exactly did Red Arrow learn of the doctor and get it into his head to rescue her before we could deploy the weapon?"

Sensei shifted uncomfortably. "We had a temporary handler assigned to our inside agent after Sportsmaster was captured, but I'm afraid he was… careless in his instructions. Rest assured, he has been dealt with."

Savage started to say something else, but Ra's cut him off. "Let us focus on the matter at hand. I assume that you were unable to reacquire the doctor?"

Sensei shook his head. "No, they took her with them. I had thought that we could capture or eliminate her when she began to track the Fog, but unfortunately they were able to keep her mobile. By the time they reached Philadelphia and the Fog slipped out of our control, I decided there was little point in pursuing her further."

Savage let out a hum (that was closer to a growl in Luthor's opinion) before he said "An unexpected tactic, likely at the direction of their new leader. What do we know about this alien?"

Luthor let out a breath. "Very little beyond the League's official statement, I am afraid. I could ask our mutual friends if they have any information on her species, but for now we will have to take what they say at face value. She is a flying powerhouse with energy attacks, though her exact strength is unknown. I am more concerned with how she and the actions of her team will be more difficult to predict until we have more information on her."

"On the matter of unexpected arrivals, there is a specific concern I would like to raise about the other hero that has appeared, Machina." The Brain said. "Data on the individual is limited, but a certain trend is taking shape."

New screens opened, showing data and images of a certain android. "Machina was claimed the primary agent in the defeat of Amazo, but the final moments of the fight were not observed. There were no remains left. Similarly, while our onsite agents are still looking, they are yet to find and any substantial trace of Fog remains."

"What is your point?" Savage asked.

"The first foe the young heroes faced was Mister Twister, an android capable of controlling wind and electricity. At Santa Prisca, the cultist who last saw Sportsmaster reported seeing large electrical discharges. At Cryptarch, there is evidence of plasma discharge into the basement, similar to the weapon Sportsmaster had been equipped with on his last assignment. I estimate there is a 63% chance that Machina is a technovore."

"He consumes technology?" Ra's asked.

"And can replicate it, if my analysis is correct." The Brain confirmed. "He is also most likely the one responsible for the capture of Sportsmaster, suggesting a degree of competence or power we did not expect. We must be very careful about the technology we field against this team, lest we find it being used against us in turn."

"Agreed. I will start looking into possible counter measures." Luthor said before he let out a mirthless chuckle. "I suppose it is ironic that someone which such an ability is aligned against us. That power would be useful in realizing our goal."

"Then perhaps we should see if that can be arranged?" Raj asked. "We know little of this Machina, but perhaps he can be made… amenable to our cause?"

There was a series of affirmations from everyone present, and there was the unspoken understanding that Ra's would be the one to handle that matter. However, Savage remarked "In the event that fails, we should look into other means of control. He is a machine, after all."

"Well then," Luthor said, a grin creeping on to his face. "It seems that the Light may have to call on Doctor Roquette's services again sooner than we thought."

--------------------​

Serling Roquette slumped at her desk in her home, a glass in one hand and a half empty bottle of wine in the other. It was early morning by the time the kid superheroes finally declared her safe and dropped her back off at her house, and the woman decided that she needed to decompress a bit before she could go to sleep. Her home computer was a high-end setup with multiple monitors and diagnostic equipment on with which she could do her work from home, but at the moment it was being used to drunkenly watch adorable cat videos. Considering the shit she had just been through over the past few weeks, she figured she deserved to get completely smashed before passing out and sleeping for 14 hours straight.

And yet, she wasn't unwinding. He eyes were unfocused at the screen while the events of the night played out in her head over and over again. After two weeks of being a prisoner, she had intended to be the one to kill her creation. She had wrote the most beautiful piece of maladaptive code she had ever seen in the space of an hour, cracked the security on a piece of prototype tech she had never seen before in minutes, and had been seconds away from uploading it.

And then the Fog had slipped into the basement a little too soon and there was nothing she could do. Like everything she had done up to that point was pointless.

She let out a disgusted grunt as she took another drink. It was amazing how quickly the sense of control could be stripped away from a person. She had first felt that helplessness the first time her captors had punished her for slipping extra commands into the Fog, and she had felt in again in that basement. All she could do was back away as the Fog claimed that thing she had tried to turn into a trap, and she couldn't think of anything that could help. No solution, no ideas. Helpless.

But then, for a moment she saw something when Machina had come to her rescue. In that moment when he brought forth lightning to drive back the monster that would consume her. That thing she saw in both what she had created and the being that represented the pinnacle of what she had been studying all her life.

Power.

Serling shivered a little at the memory. She had never paid that much attention to metahumans or their antics, as they had never really interested her. Even for all of the interesting physics of their powers, the people who wielded them mostly just seemed to use them to punch people. Even watching videos of them in action had never had that much of an impact. But it was so different seeing that power in person. Not just that, but seeing power derived from something she understood.

Power that she could have for herself.

As she already had several times that night, Serling's hand traced over the small vial she had sitting on her desk, no larger than her finger. Inside looked to be nothing more than a grey-silver powder, but it was so much more than that. It had just… fallen into her hand when she handed Machina the flash drive with the virus, flaking off the arm as it rebuilt itself. The alien nanites may have been dead, bit even then the things she could learn from them…

She shouldn't have it. In fact, it was very much illegal for her to have this sample in her own home. Not only did she not have the clearance for it, but she hadn't asked Machina's permission to keep part of his body. One would wonder what she would even want it for considering she was already getting the chance to study his live nanites. She'd have plenty of chances to learn in Kord's lab.

And yet… for the idea that had started to take root in Roquette's mind, she needed something private. Because she knew that if she explained what she wanted to do, he would say no. There were dangers, there would be regulations and laws, and he probably wouldn't understand why she needed this. And once she told him, people would know and try to take it from her. Hell, people had kidnapped her because of something she could potentially create, so what would actually creating her idea do? She stared at the vial, the choice before her weighing on her mind.

Problem: you are helpless without superheroes. Solution:…

Finally, she slotted the vial into the scanner next to her computer tower.

Serling took a deep breath before she sat up straight, her hands reaching out the keyboard in front of her. With a couple of rapid commands she pulled up her nanorobotics CAD program on one screen and the scan diagnostic program on the other. She paused, and after a moment's thought she went to the University Scientific Network, searching for a paper she vaguely remembered reading a few months ago. After a few minutes she found it, a dissertation on the hurdles of microscale cybernetics by one Dr. Silas Stone, and downloaded it. And then she got to work.

In the end, she would have her solution. Even if she had to engineer her own.