Protection Detail

Monday 9th August 2010, 22:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

Gotham Heights.

"Everyone in position?" Maelstrom asked over the radio, receiving a round of affirmative.

Looking around the computer shop, Esau took note of Robin who was crouched down beside him, his holographic computer up showing images from nearby CCTV cameras. Up on the roof, Artemis was there in position, bow out ready as she surveyed their surroundings, Batgirl standing outside at the rear entrance

It had taken them a while to find a proper secure location that provided both a good defensive position, with plenty of open space and also allowed them to easily spot any possible attackers. However, once they had, Kid Flash along with Robin using CCTV had secured the perimeter, while they made their way here as quickly as they could.

At the same time, Aqualad and his team had secured Roquette and brought her back to Mount Justice.

Esau had decided to keep her there for now, mostly because they had checked her for possible trackers, both on her body and in her bloodstream. He had learned his lesson after the incident with Talon and Esau was not about to take any chances when dealing with an organisation like the League of Shadows. It had been a good job they had done so as well as they had found a few, they being disposed of quickly before she arrived at Mount Justice.

Despite the secure position of Mount Justice and the defences in place, Esau had not been confident in using it as the main base for protecting Roquette. He did not know the full depth of the League of Shadow's resources and according to the Roquette, the Shadows had forced her to build a personal security system into the Fog. Its main aim was to connect itself to the internet and scour every device linked to it for any sign of someone working on a virus or a way that could potentially shut down the Fog.

The earlier work she had done in setting up the virus was untraceable, but as she got more in-depth and specialised in the makeup of the virus, the easier it would be for the Fog and the Shadows to locate her. Esau wasn't about to put the location of Mount Justice at risk, not when it was their main base of operations and so, had ordered Roquette to stop what she was doing for the time being, just after she was starting to reach the stage of creating the virus that would alert the League of Shadows.

She had done so only a few seconds ago as reported to him by Aqualad.

"Right, KF bring her in. Miss Martian link us up when you get within range. Everyone else, commence radio silence." Switching off his radio, everyone else doing the same, Esau focused entirely on scanning the surrounding area. He doubted very much that their location would be known already, but Gotham was always a place filled with eyes and ears around every corner, he wasn't going to risk being caught unawares. "Anything?"

"Nothing yet?" Robin replied, his eyes carefully checking each screen that showed the video feed of the various CCTV cameras he had linked up to. "KF will be here in a few seconds."

Nodding his head, Esau turned to look at the rear entrance. "Right, keep your eyes on the cameras, I want to know about everything that makes a move in our general direction." Giving a short nod, Robin turned back to the cameras as Esau turned and made his way to open the back door.

Less than a second after he did, Kid Flash carrying Roquette bridal burst into the room skidding slightly as he came to a stop in the centre of the electronics shop. Roquette herself looked a little uneasy, her eyes scrunched shut and her hair a mess due to the speed she had moved at, only to crouch down moments later, throwing up into the bin that Kid Flash placed there just in the nick of time.

"Good job, take Robin's place at the front entrance." Kid Flash gave a nod before Esau looked to Batgirl who had followed in behind. "Swap out with Aqualad when he arrives, you'll then link up with KF." He then turned to Roquette. "Dr Roquette, I apologise for the mode of transportation, but it was the quickest way to get you here."

It took the older blonde a few moments to recover. "T-that's okay." She stuttered, her face quickly regaining its colour as she moved her hand to her windswept blonde locks and tried to straighten them out. "Are you sure this is safe?"

"More so than a school." Esau responded, not properly answering her. It was a lesson he had been taught by Slade when it came to handling protection detail missions and that was to never lie, but instead, leave things ambiguous. Though she was safer here, that didn't guarantee that she was safe, there was still the possibility that they could fail and Roquette could be killed; a very real possibility. "If you would please take a seat and begin the finishing touches of making your virus, I'd like to stop the League of Shadows before they can get their hands on anything else.

From what they knew already, the Shadows had already attacked a number of top-secret labs that had been studying various things such as biological weapons, advanced weaponry and even a number of universities. They were steadily gathering a large pool of information, yet it had no set pattern, there was no one area of information they were targeting specifically.

It was like they were just gathering whatever they could with no real aim besides that.

But before he could think further about this, the rest of the team closed in on their location. {"MM join Artemis on the roof. Aqualad take Batgirl's position and guard the rear entrance. Superboy, join me inside."}

The backdoor soon opened and in stepped Superboy, before it closed he caught a glimpse of Aqualad stepping into sight. "Superboy, stay with Roquette at all times. You're going to act as her shield." When Superboy looked at him questioningly, Esau clarified. "You're unique physiology means that you're best at acting as a shield, and that's exactly what you're going to do. If anyone gets past the others, it'll be just me and you acting as a last line of defence."

Grunting, still displeased at his role but at least understanding why, Superboy did just that, moving to stand beside Roquette with his arms crossed over his chest.

{"Everyone, let's settle in for a long night."}

-X-

Monday 9th August 2010, 22:05.

Philadelphia,

Private Jet.

Sighing deeply, Professor Ojo leaned back into his chair, away from the holographic computer that was projected from the seat. It had been a long few hours sorting through the large backlog of information that the Fog had gathered, restructuring the data into proper files and not one big lump of data. It was the one problem with the masterpiece that was the Fog, resting beside him in the container that had a blinking red light, showcasing its dormant state.

The ability to gather and steal raw data from some of the most secure places in the world with barely any effort on his side. It would make information gatherers obsolete and he was just fine with that, most were untrustworthy, often selling information on the person who came to them to whoever would benefit most.

This however, was the perfect piece of technology.

With it, the League of Shadows had access to hundreds of secret experiments as well as information that if sold to the right people, would be worth billions. The one problem though was that the data the Fog gathered was not structured in any way, all of it was just thrown together into one large pile that would be worthless.

So it was left to him to organise the information into some form of structure.

That was easier said than done.

Still, it was a task he found much simpler.

Even though he was a member of the League of Shadows, Professor Ojo's skills did not lie in combat, but instead in engineering, hacking and anything to do with technology. He himself had built the headpiece that he wore at all times, the sole eye upon it capable of firing a blast of energy powerful enough to destroy reinforced trucks with ease.

When Roquette, a genius that he would begrudgingly admit was superior to him, had designed the Fog, the amount of work needed to control and direct the nanites was far more than most would believe. It required more than simply pressing a button and then sitting back to let everything unfold as many had initially believed. Control parameters had to be set each time, instructions and aims had to be clearly defined and then, only then were you capable of pressing a button and watching the nanites work.

Still, the mission was proving to be easy.

The League of Shadows had tasked him to use the Fog to gather as much data from secure facilities all across America in the limited timeframe of a day. The reason for such a small timeframe was simply because any longer and the task of gathering the data would become much more difficult.

There was no doubt that the various government agencies all over the world, especially in America would be aware of what was going on. How it was happening still probably remained a mystery, but the fact that someone was stealing precious data would not have gone unnoticed.

If they worked any longer than a day then there was a possibility that the Justice League if they haven't already, would get involved for sure.

If that were the case then the Fog would be useless.

Against normal armed guards, even special forces then the Fog would only face a few minor inconveniences but would still succeed.

However, the Justice League was another matter entirely.

It was why the assassins assigned to act as his guards had been doubled.

The Fog would work fine against armed guards, but against the Justice League, it would not.

They had already shown the ability to defeat nanotech weapons before, the Fog which specialised in information gathering rather than combat would be easily defeated by the Justice League. That's where the Shadows came in, they would act as distractions and diversions, keeping what League members would be there if there were any, busy while the Fog carried on its assignment.

It was at that moment that an alert window came onto his computer.

Cautiously, Professor Ojo pulled it open and another screen popped up showing a map of Gotham City with a blinking red light. Frowning, he activated his communication device and another screen appeared showing the image of Sensei. He was an old man, who despite his age was still in incredible shape with broad shoulders and strong arms. Yet the most eye-catching feature was the scar coming down across his pale left eye, a grizzled and gnarled old man who had seen as much combat as he looked to have seen.

"She's revealed herself." Ojo informed and Sensei revealed nothing, his face indifferent.

"Are there any problems with the Fog?"

"None." Professor Ojo shook his head. "It is working perfectly."

This earned a reaction, Sensei allowing a brief cruel smirk to cross his aged features. "Then continue with your mission, Roquette will no longer be a problem."