A sick dog

David was currently in his lab trying to work on the formula, since the arrival for the child he seldom left it.

There had been no change at all in regards Kal and David saw this as a good thing, his theory was that if it was true death the body would decay, but as Steph pointed out, maybe there is nothing strong enough in Earth's atmosphere to start the decay process.

Steph hovered smoothly into the room and sat on one of the lab chairs.

Hearing her arrival David turned around and smiled at her, he then noticed her look of concern.

"Stephy, what's wrong?" David inquired as he came to stand before her, taking her small hands into his.

Steph looked up and tried to smile, "I know you need this power to face the threats, but it concerns me that the same will happen as last time. You left me for years, alone, I missed you so much." As Steph spoke tears gently rolled down her cheeks.

David leaned forwards and lightly kissed her tears, "I will not lie, I think it will happen. I believe it is this body. It grows stronger when it sleeps. I think the reverse happens as well, when I gain a lot of power, this body will sleep. I believe this is the reason Strange wanted to wake him. I am potentially the strongest creature in any universe, but the flip side is I have to sleep for a very long time to be that strong."

David grinned slightly, "And so I am preparing another serum for you, a drug that will force your body to rest while it adapts to the new power. If I am right, because it will be a physical boost, we will still be able to communicate mentally. It will just be another long nap for us."

Steph smiled warmly, she was not concerned about him making a serum for her, she was happy he had thought about her and made plans so she would not be without him.

Moving forward she snuggled into his chest and mumbled, "Thank you."

Meanwhile, Billy and Libby were receiving their first mission.

'Hello League, as predicted Natasha has been "kidnapped" although earlier than anticipated, this means Romulus should be In Madripoor. I am therefore activating David's "sick dog" protocol.'

Libby snorted, she had received a briefing on Romulus previously and instantly understood the reference.

Southeast Asia, Madripoor. Currently, it was nighttime and two people were standing on top of the "Sands of Asia" hotel. One was dressed in shorts and a tee-shirt, the other in a formfitting black leather jumpsuit with holsters on either thigh and what seemed to be a small blade across the back off her belt. On the belt itself, small black disks could be seen, each of these containing air vacuumed supplies, unfortunately, David was still working on the PYM Particles. Luckily the Unstable particle suits were done so Libby got to wear one. The zip in the front was pulled up most of the way Billy noticed disappointedly.

Both David and Libby were wearing static shielding to prevent smells, although in later times it would prevent DNA from being left behind.

Libby looked at Billy and asked, "So, explain to me again why I am dressed like this, and you are dressed like that?"

"I don't have a uniform yet." Billy grinned, it also helped that she looked awesome in it.

"Right, so you are staying back for this one? His all mine?" asked Libby excitedly.

Billy nodded slowly, he would have preferred to either face him alone or support Libby but she had begged saying she needed the experience.

With that, Billy made himself invisible and Libby swung down into Romulus's room.

Contrary to what Libby expected in front of her at the other side of the room sat a 2.13m tall man, his eyes had no discernible pupils or irises, he had pointed ears, currently he had claws at the tips of his fingers, mutton-chop sideburns, and a hairstyle that is similar to Wolverine's, with the exception that the back is was very long and kept in a ponytail. Half his hair, including his ponytail, is white, with age.

Chuckling the man spoke, his accent was very strange to Libby, she guessed it was Latin, "So finally the little pup stops playing in the dark eh?"

The man stood up and Libby realized just how large he actually was, her head slightly leaned to the side. It was then that Libby realized she had just dodged a hidden weapon attack. She realized she might have misunderstood the threat he posed.

As the thought passed through her mind, she heard a voice in her ear, "Oh very good, this mutt might be worth training. Once I break her."

Libby instantly bent her waist and started to fly back, an attack to her stomach had the highest odds and she was right, she felt his knee impact her stomach. If she had not bent to absorb some of the force, she would have already lost this right.

Feeling the impact driving her back Libby brought her left leg up behind her as she dropped her head and chest downwards in one smooth motion, using the force of his attack and impaling her heel on his temple.

Hearing a low grunt and having felt the impact she continued the cartwheeled forward; she was regretting having to fight him in a closed space already.

As she brought herself up her hands reaching for the pistols at her thighs, she felt a cold shiver down her spine as something pulled her by her hair.

Falling backward she tried to drop her head low and do a backward cartwheel to attack again but it seemed Romulus had learned the trick already as he quickly raised her by the handful of hair throwing her off balance and then smashed her downwards toward the floor with full forces.

"DOGGY!" Libby suddenly shouted into the night.

This confused Romulus but did not stop his action, what did stop his action was the cold sweat that suddenly ran down his spine as he felt himself being gripped tightly from behind by the neck.

He let go of Libby as he tried to stab his claws into the hand holding him.

"Pathetic mutt." Billy was very angry, but he knew he could not show it, he already saw Libby as his and this excuse for a dog was trying to harm her. He knew if he let her know how he saw her it might well scare her off.

"You have no respect for a woman it seems, but now you have given me a chance to give her a present, hehe"

Billy chuckled lightly as he copied Romulus' powers then smiled as he turned the dog to face him, already running low on air Romulus was still attempting to harm Billy but since this was a long time before he upgraded himself with Adamantium he had very little impact.

For all his regeneration powers he could not anything about being chocked. His head slowly began to drop to the side as Billy looked over to Libby, "You might want to look away for this part."

To her credit, Libby watched as Billy crushed Romulus's head, unlike his dad he could only destroy non-living matter at the moment, once Romulus died though he collapsed his body to dust.

"Libby, I copied most of his powers, they seem to be upgraded versions of yours. They not much use to me, did you want them?"

"I messed that up, you knew I stood no chance, but you humored me. Did you want me to realize on my own, or did you just want to hear me say that word?" although Libby was serious, she was half jesting in an attempt to let Billy know she was not upset, just trying to understand.