12

I watched the flags flap in the breeze as my gaze drifted down the street, watching all the people go in and out of the large building, like their world was a sane one where their efforts meant something. Ok, that was cynical of me, they definitely helped hold the world together, but what did it matter when everything went to hell? What's a normal person to do in a world when someone with more power than sense can throw on a garish costume and raze city blocks, and your best hope is other people in garish costumes stopping them? Does this world really belong to normal people, and what does that mean for me now that I'm not one of them anymore-

"You are always staring off into space." Kori said.

I blinked as I snapped out of my thoughts and looked over at her. "Huh?"

She made a face. "Just like that. You stare at nothing as if you are thinking of something important. You do it so often I have become concerned."

I waved her off. "Oh, I've always done that. And I guarantee you that it's almost never anything important."

"Well.. what were you thinking of just now?"

I let out a breath as I looked down. "Mostly how different things look from up here." I said, my feet dangling over the ledge I sat on. The two of us were about ten stories up sitting on the ledge of a building in midtown Manhattan, overlooking the United Nations headquarters a short distance away from us. The city below us still busy as it was early afternoon, though that was not to say the morning hadn't been eventful either.

The two of us were meeting Wonder Woman today to do our first official superhero patrol, though she had some work to finish up at the UN first. Since Kori had been so eager to finally get out and do something, I decide that I could show her around the city a bit before it was time to get to work. I wasn't quite as concerned about our mere presence making a scene this time as, well, Kori was far pretty and more personable than I was, so people probably wouldn't freak out immediately if I stuck around her.

Also, it was New York City. I saw weirder looking things than my current self back when I was in my universe.

Anyway, my tour of the city was probably a bit more meandering and scattered than I had intended it to be, transitioning from tourist locations, to old stomping grounds, to various ethnic districts, to somehow getting caught up in what I think was a street performance, to finally a pizza joint. Bit of a mess I suppose, but it did wind up giving Kori a decent cross section of current human culture, and she certainly seemed to enjoy it.

The woman made a small noise as she looked down with me. "I sometimes forget how different it must be for a species that cannot innately fly." She paused. "If you are uncomfortable…"

That wasn't quite what I had been talking about, but I let it slide. "Oh no, I'm not afraid heights. It's just a little different being on the outside of a building is all." I remarked as I watched the cars and pedestrians below me. "Beside which it's keeping my mind off… other things."

Her brow knitted in concern. "I am sure that the League will find the doctor soon. You do not need to worry."

I know she was trying to make me feel better, but I probably would have been twitching nervously if my body still had nerves. It had been several days since Doctor Roquette had disappeared, and no one had told me anything about the investigation thus far, if there even was anything to say. Batman just said 'We're looking into it.' The paranoid part of me wondered if her meeting me was the reason she was missing, but there should be a very limited number of people who know I even exist at this point. I let out a sigh as I tried to relax. "I know. Even if I did decide to do something myself I'd have no idea where to start." I paused and looked off to the side. "I guess I could try to rope Robin in on this…"

"No stepping on the League's feet." Kori said firmly. "The League trusted us to give us our place in the world, we should trust them to do as they say, at least for now. As well, I do not feel that Robin should be given a chance to go off on his own quite so soon."

My mouth twisted a little at that, but I conceded the point. "As you say, commander." I remarked.

After Batman's debrief, the team had their own meeting to discuss what happened during the mission and to make a formal decision on who would be leader. Turns out that Robin had done his usual disappearing act when the fighting broke out. Which certainly was useful for finding and acquiring the information we were looking for (turned out Kobra had fused a super-serum called Blockbuster with Venom, making a whole new form of nasty they were going to sell to someone), but less useful when it came to coordinating the counter offensive. That didn't win the Boy Wonder any affection from the rest of the team, whereas Kori and Kaldur's direction was much more appreciated. After a brief discussion between the two, it was decided that Kori would be the team leader, and Kaldur would act as second in command. Robin wasn't terribly thrilled about this, but he accepted it.

Kori now waved me off. "Please, no need to refer to me as such, especially today."

I shrugged. "As you say, woman-whose-orders-I-follow."

She gave me a suffering look before her expression softened. "I know that you are not exactly a full member of the team yet… but you are not upset that you were not part of the decision, are you?"

I was a little taken aback by this. "What? Of course not, you'll make a great leader. Not only do you have training for that sort of thing, but I'll bet you have the charisma for it too. Which will be great for getting the team to work together, and keeping problems from popping up between us. Like when I inevitably put my foot in my mouth and Superboy decides to use my head as a stress ball."

She frowned at that. "If such a thing happened, you could talk it out."

"Nope. We're men."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

I gestured vaguely. "It's a cultural thing. It's frowned upon for men to express too much emotion, so many learn to suppress it or adopt a sort of mask, ranging from overcompensating machismo to snarky self-deprecation."

Kori gave me a very worried expression. "That sounds horrible… especially considering your own proclaimed deprecation of the self."

"Yeah, but I'm self-aware about it, so it all balances out."

She continued frowning at me for a long moment before she shook her head. "You can be so strange sometimes… but given all that you have done since we met, I think your attempts to sell yourself short are falling flat." As Kori leaned back against the building, she gave me a brilliant smile and…

Damn it, that's just unfair, I thought. This is even worse than when M'gann learned she could get me to do anything she wanted by giving me sad puppy dog eyes. Now I was completely lacking witty comments to respond with. "Ah…" I said for a moment before I decided to change the subject, reaching to my side to grab the item I had brought up with us. "We- you should probably eat this before it gets cold."

Kori's expression turned to one of hunger as she took the large pizza box from my hands. "Ah yes, I have heard tell that pizza from this city in the best in the world." She opened the box to reveal an 'Everything' pizza, the toppings so thick and densely packed they probably outweighed the rest of foodstuff. Personally I was more of a single topping kind of fellow, but seeing as how the pizza was for my Tamaranian friend, I let her go nuts with it. And that's exactly what she did as she lifted the first piece to her mouth.

I heard that some men have a thing for women eating food elegantly. I'm not one of them, and if I was I'm pretty sure I would be throwing my hands up in dismay at the sight of the Tamaranian eating. Over the past few weeks I had learned that Koriand'r didn't bother with such paltry things as 'table manners' or 'restraint' when it came to food. She tore through that pizza like a barbarian horde raiding a village, both swift and brutal in her execution. The fields of chicken were ravaged, and the forests of broccoli were razed. There were probably something unspeakable things happening to the anchovies too.

In the end she left ruin and devastation in her wake, mostly in the form of crust crumbs, spilt toppings, and the blood (tomato sauce) of her enemies on her lips. To be honest I actually giggled a little at the sight of her with a messy face and puffed out cheeks, something she picked up on and tilted her head at. I just handed her a set of napkins and shook my head.

As she cleaned herself up, I noticed that a small group of pigeons had been drawn to the remains of the feast, settling on the ledge on either side of us. I didn't care to be swarmed by the things, so I quickly reached over to the box and unraveled my hand, consuming the box and its contents. This scared the birds off and they took flight.

All except for one, sitting next to Kori opposite from me, and staring at her chest region for some reason. I narrowed my eyes at the bird and made the universal 'I'm watching you' gesture. It took the hint and flew off.

We didn't have to wait too long after that. "Ah, there you are." A voice interrupted. The two of us looked back forward to see Wonder Woman flying up to us, fully kitted out in her usual costume. The woman looks much the same as when I saw her last, dressed in her cuirass and silver circlet and bracers. She hovered to a stop in front of us and for a moment I was stuck with a sort of awe at her presence that I hadn't felt when I first met her. Maybe it was just because I had been overwhelmed by the circumstances at the time, but now as the statuesque woman floated before me I was suddenly aware that I was in the presence of a living legend.

Unaware of my internal epiphany, Wonder Woman continued. "I was concerned when I didn't see you on ground level before I realized you might pick a more scenic viewpoint. I hope I you weren't waiting long."

"It was fine. Machina showed me around the city. I've never seen so many different cultures in a single city!" Kori said enthusiastically.

I on the other hand shook my head before arching an eyebrow. "Do… you actually attend UN meetings geared up like that?"

Wonder Woman gave a short laugh. "No, I have a change of clothes in my office. It would send the wrong message if I attended peace conferences while armored for combat." She gave me a wiry grin. "Even if I do sometimes find myself hoping a Minotaur will attack to liven things up a bit."

Kori got to her feet. "So, what do we do now?"

"Nothing major, hopefully." Wonder Woman said. "Normally New York is Lantern Stewart's territory, but he just switched off with our other Green Lantern for patrolling off-world, so we're coving for him. Depending on if we manage to catch and stop a large enough crime, you may end up getting cornered by reporters." She glanced at me and a small frown creased her face. "I'm afraid I'm not up to date on your capabilities. Can you fly?"

I got up onto my haunches. "Unfortunately no. Not yet anyway. However, you don't have to worry about me keeping up. I have a… different way for getting around a city."

It was Wonder Woman's turn to arch an eyebrow. "Really? And that is…?"

I shifted my position so that I was facing down the street away from the floating superheroine, my 'muscles' tensing and un-tensing as I prepared myself. My current form was something of a halfway point between what had become my casual human form and my armored human form. The plates that covered me had larger gaps of more flexible material between them, and my build was bit more narrow and athletic. Before I lost my nerve, I jumped.

I arced about 20 feet though the air before I started to drop, and as I did I pointed my arm at the top of the building I was falling past. A nanite cable shot out from a launcher on the inside of my wrist, hitting its target and holding fast. The cable pulled tight and I swung, releasing and retracting the cable at the edge of my swing before I shot out another one with my other arm to keep my momentum going.

Alright, I may not have been quite as graceful about it as the original webslinger, but I was way to giddy to be webslinging around New York to care.

After traveling a few blocks I attached a line to the lip of a roof and pulled, rapidly reeling myself upwards with enough speed that I shot up past the ledge by about a dozen feet. Unfortunately my inexperience prevented me from landing quite as gracefully as I wanted, but I managed to turn it into a semi-competent roll. As I got to my feet I saw the two superheroines flying towards me. "That is an… interesting take on how Batman patrols out of vehicle." Wonder Woman said as she landed next to me.

"I got a few pointers from Robin." I commented. I briefly considered telling her about Spiderman before I decided against it. "So, I'm ready when you are. Do you have your own com?"

She tapped the side of her ear, and after a moment I got a ping on my internal radio, signifying we had been linked on the same network. I was far from an expert, but since our last mission I had been studying our com system and how to use them. For better or worse they were still just standard radios rather than something more exotic, as the League didn't want to rely on tech that they all didn't fully understand and couldn't maintain. Think there is an argument to be made otherwise, but I felt I needed more technical knowledge before I attempted to convince anyone.

Starfire drifted a little higher in the air as our coms linked up. "And now, let us begin. For justice!"

----------------------​

For the next hour or so we traveled around Manhattan, keeping an eye below us as we flew and swung through the city. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I mean, comic books make it seem like there is a supervillain attack every other day in a major city, but I was sure that the actual rate of crime couldn't be that much worse than in real life. And to be sure, even with all the ground we covered, we only spotted a single mugging in that time. And that guy gave up the moment he spotted Wonder Woman flying down to say hello.

I was starting to think that the day would be fairly anti-climactic before a new sound reached my ears, a high ringing sound that I could just make out above the sounds of the city. I came to a stop on the side of a building before I shouted out "Hey, do you hear that? It sounds like an alarm."

The two women stopped and turned towards me. "I do not hear anything unusual." Starfire said. "But then, your hearing has been proven to be much better than mine."

"Where is it coming from?" Wonder Woman asked.

I couldn't pinpoint the exact location or distance, but I could tell what direction it was. "This way, follow me!" I leapt from the building and shot down the street, swinging along as fast as I dared travel. I ended up moving about three blocks south before swinging west, and it was another block or so before I spotted the source. And when I did I almost laughed.

It was an honest-to-god bank robbery. Or at least that was what I assumed I found as the ringing noise was coming from a bank, and parked out front the was an armored car with a man in a ski mask in the driver's seat. I doubted that was the bank's official uniform, and the automatic rifle in the passenger's seat didn't help matters. I wasn't sure if he had hijacked the car, or if he brought it himself, but given how he wasn't immediately driving away, I assumed he wasn't alone; the rest of his crew was probably inside.

The bank itself was modern, the building only five stories high and made of brick and plaster. The front was plain with large glass windows showing me a bit of the lobby, though I couldn't see much more from my angle above. "Looks like a robbery." I said as I landed on the top of the building, looking down at the getaway car. "So, how do you do-"

That was as far as I got before I saw Wonder Woman dive, her form blurring as she simply flew straight into the bank. Starfire was not far behind her and the two disappeared from sight.

"…this." I finished lamely, hearing panicked shouts coming from inside the building. I would have thought we would need to approach a little more carefully, but Wonder Woman probably knew what she's doing. So, then what was I doing? A quick glance down showed the getaway driver franticly starting the car.

I took a moment to judge the distance. Ah what the hell, I thought to myself as I dropped off the roof.

About 2 seconds later I slammed into the hood of the armored car, feeling a small shock of pain in my legs before it quickly faded. I looked up and on the other side of the windshield the driver was cursing up a storm as he struggled awkwardly to pull his rifle up towards me. I ignored him for the moment and shaped my right leg into a spike before driving it through the hood into the engine. The car stuttered briefly before assimilation spikes rapidly spread and consumed the engine. Fear me criminals, for I now have all the powers of a combustion engine, I thought to myself as my leg resumed its normal shape. I looked back up in time to see the man finally level his assault rifle at me and open fire at me through the windshield.

Those bullets must have had a lot of kick, because they managed to piece through the glass and into me. I didn't try to dodge though, instead choosing to move in closer. It hurt a little, especially since my current armor was thinner and bent with the impacts (helped reduce the chance of a ricochet), but I only had to put up with it for a little bit until I reached the gun. My fist went through the bullet-ridden glass and gripped the rifle, and a quick twist bent the barrel upwards. The two of us were still for a moment before I said "So, do you want to just come along quietly, or-"

The man suddenly tried to bolt out of his seat and out the door, but my hand shot forward and grabbed his arm. My grip tightened the same instant he twisted his arm at an odd angle to try to break free, and he let out a scream of pain.

-felt something crack underneath my hands-

My hand suddenly loosened and there was a tearing noise as the sleeve of his shirt ripped, the thug all but hurling himself out of the car and attempting to run down the street. I hesitated for a moment before I let out an exasperated sigh at myself and hopped off the car.

The reason my form was slimmer than usual was not just because it gave me the proper flexibility to websling (though that was part of it), but also to limit my physical strength. Given the way my body worked, how strong I was at any given moment was basically determined by how much of my mass it was dedicating to that purpose, both for structure and energy. If I dedicated one hundred percent to pure physical strength I was actually the third strongest on the team behind Superboy and Starfire.

But I didn't even want to use that amount of strength. And now a criminal was getting away because- whatever. I really wish I had some actual training, I thought to myself as my arm rippled and reconfigured, electricity arcing up and down it before I pointed two fingers at the man running away.

Knocking someone out with electricity (and not permanently injuring them) requires precision, both in where you aim and how much power you deliver to the body. And both of those things are more difficult when you're at range. As such I dropped the power of my bolts to be on the safe side, delivering little more energy than a Taser to the thug as it hit him. The man spasmmed and tumbled to the ground, still conscious but struggling to get his limbs under control. I cleared the distance between us just as he got to his feet, and a quick hand to his chest and a concentrated shock put him back down.

I swiftly dragged his body back to the car and looked through the large front windows of the bank trying to see what was going on. There was some muffled shouting before the sound of an automatic weapon being fired, bullets tracing across the bank lobby at an unseen target. Before I could move though, Wonder Woman came into view, swiftly advancing across the lobby towards the source of fire, her arms a blur as she expertly deflected every bullet with her bracers. Soon enough the clip went dry and the superheroine shot forward in a burst of speed, disappearing from sight. There was a loud crunch shortly after that.

Starfire then came into view, backing away from a man similarly dressed to the one I had taken down who was swinging a crowbar at her. From behind her, another man jumped over the tiller counters and tried to rush her from her blindspot, but the moment he was within reach she spun and grabbed him by the collar. Starfire continued her spin and slammed the thug into the man assailing her. She then did it again. And again.

…My god it's spectacular watching them work. I thought to myself. It was so engrossing I almost missed someone sneaking around the back of the armored car with my blindsight, creeping up to me with what I guessed was a baseball bat in his hands. I had learned from my encounter with Sportsmaster though, and as he swung the bat at my head my hand lashed out to grab it.

Unfortunately, I was apparently not yet cool enough to pull off the no-look block, as I missed my target by centimeters and the bat collided with my head. As my feet had been braced it only tilted my head a little on impact, but I still yelled "Damn it!" More out of embarrassment than pain, mind you. "This is why I never try to be cool in public. Well, at least no one saw that…"

"Uh…" I turned my head to look at the man who tried to brain me, currently looking very unsure of himself.

There was a beat before my eyes narrowed. "You've seen too much." I said before I reached out and shocked him into unconsciousness.

With that out of the way I returned my attention back to the matter at hand, only to find there was nothing left. Only a little over a minute had passed since we arrived on the scene, and it was already over. I was a little surprised by the swiftness of it, but then again these particular thugs didn't look like they were part of any supervillain's gang (or Intergang for that matter). Plus having a superheroine with about 70 years of heroing under her belt taking point probably helped. Wonder Woman and Starfire came walking out of the bank, each dragging their own pair of goons behind them. "Everything good in there?" I asked as they tossed the men at the other two I had captured.

"The theft has been thwarted." Starfire said. "The civilians and guards had been tied up, but were unharmed."

"Yes, good work." Wonder Woman said before glancing at the now inoperable armored car. "Both of you."

I then noticed the sound of sirens getting closer. "Sounds like the police are on their way."

The older heroine hummed at that. "Since we have nothing pressing at the moment, we should wait and give a statement. It is not strictly necessary for us to do so, but it is a good idea to be helpful to the local authorities whenever possible."

"Oh, will this be our official introduction then?" Starfire asked.

I spied something as I looked off to the side. "Either way, it looks like we're getting our unofficial introduction right now." I said as I nodded towards the sidewalk. Already a small cluster of people had formed to gawk at the superheroes, phones out and recording. I guess people still get excited by superheroes around here, I thought.

Of course, Starfire immediately beamed as she turned towards them. "Hello citizens!" she called out cheerfully. "I am Starfire and this is Machina! We have helped Wonder Woman secure your monetary assets from these villains!" They group looked at each other in polite confusion at that before she turned back to Wonder Woman. "Should I greet them in person while we wait for the authorities?"

Wonder Woman gave the younger superheroine a bemused look as she said "If you want, just remember the cover we gave you."

Starfire looked at me but I held up a hand before she could say anything. "You can go on ahead without me. I'm… I don't really have anything to say…"

Starfire gave me a look, but after a moment she turned and walked towards the group of bystanders. Wonder Woman gave me a look of her own. "You are not comfortable with crowds?"

"No, I'm just… not good at carrying a conversation with random people. 'Hey, I just foiled a bank robbery, so, uh, how about this weather?'"

The woman considered me for a moment before she changed the subject. "After you had taken care of the ones outside, why did you choose to remain out here?"

"You and Starfire seemed to have a handle on the situation inside the bank, and I wanted to be sure that no one else tried to slip away." I hesitated. "Was… that the wrong call?"

"No, I just find it interesting that you chose to hang back while Starfire and I handled things directly."

I blinked in confusion at that. "Why is that? I'm still vastly inexperienced compared to the two of you. If I tried to charge in I'd be just as likely to get in your way as help."

Wonder Woman did not look convinced. "And yet that is at odds with your behavior on your last mission."

I shifted a little. "Oh, that. Well, that was because there was no one else who was in position to follow those cultists."

"So you prefer to stay in your support role unless you are forced out of it."

"I… guess. I mean, I still feel like I barely know what I'm doing…" I trailed off as I narrowed my eyes at her. "Wait, are you evaluating me?"

"I wouldn't put it like that…" She said. "But I am concerned. Your first mission ended up being far more dangerous and stressful than we intended, especially to you. I want to make sure that you weren't unduly marked by the experience."

An image of cooling bodies on the jungle floor flashed through my mind before I shook my head. "I'm fine. I'm still just getting my footing."

"Well, in my opinion, I think you're performing quite well." Wonder Woman said with an encouraging smile.

I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "Ah, if you say so." I replied. I suppose I had done alright, if not much. It just didn't feel… good enough, I guess. She was started to give me that concerned look again, so I decide to try to put what I was feeling into words. "I-"

That was as far as I got before a voice suddenly cut through on our coms. "This is Green Arrow to any Justice League members listening. Me and Black Canery have just been blindsided by an unknown villain. Hits pretty hard, could use some muscle."

Wonder Woman's hand went to her ear. "This is Wonder Woman, where are you?"

"We're in the Bronx, New York City, around the corner of Third and 145th."

My eyebrows rose at that. What are those two doing out of Star City? I wondered, but Wonder Woman simply said "I'm in Manhattan with Starfire and Machina. We'll be there in two minutes." She looked back at me. "The police will have to wait, this takes priority."

Starfire, having heard the com, moved back over to us. "It sounds that we should make all due haste." She said, and extended her arm towards me. I caught on quickly and nodded, the two of us clasping forearms. My webslinging wasn't as fast her flying speed, so she would have to carry me.

Without another word, the three of us lifted into the air and shot northward.

----------------------​

True to Wonder Woman's word, I spotted the plume of smoke inside of two minutes of travel, and a few seconds later we arrived at the site of a small disaster. All along the street, cars were wrecked and buildings were damaged. Nothing too major, more like a really bad storm rather than a warzone, but it was still disconcerting, especially since I knew the cause still had to be around. I couldn't see where though. I reached up and tapped Starfire's arm, and she nodded before flying low and letting me go.

I dropped to the ground and looked around, trying to pin point where the fighting was taking place. It didn't take long as a second later Green Arrow was defenestrated out of a store front about a block away. He bounced of the roof of a car before he rolled to his feet, his bow snapping up to fire a shot at an opponent I couldn't see. As I moved to close the distance a screech pierced the air, echoing from inside the store and ripping apart the rest of the front of the building. I had never heard it before, but it was easy to identify the Canary Cry.

Which is why I was so surprised when Black Canary came flying out along with it.

"Oh no…" I said, sliding to a stop when I saw the one responsible walking out of the ruined building. It was clearly an android, shaped like a man but with visible seams where the plates on his body connected. His ears were pointed, and while its top was flesh colored the bottom was a dull green. And while I was more familiar with a different version of the android, I knew perfectly well who this was.

Amazo had come to town.