After School Villains Club (2)

Miss Martian

M'Gann

Myself and Wally were away from Central City when it happened, all the way back in LA talking to Mr Akk. This wasn't a meeting exactly, Diana was convinced Bad Penny was this man's daughter but there was no chance we could out her to her father. Especially now we thought we knew her cohorts. Penny's friends, the kids of two well known retired super-villains. Outing Penny would out them, which would get the enforcers involved.

Get me involved. As an enforcer for peace if the shit hit the ceiling and someone tried to make a fight personal, it was my job to fix things. Usually by wiping their minds.

With some effort I could drop into a person's head, take away memories, implant false ones. It was better than what some of my counterparts did, at least the heroes could keep on heroing.

That's why I was here though, Wally and Diane was going over the Brainiac's stuff, talking to him about his 'opinions on the kids' and their level of skill. If they crossed a line, I would have to stop them.

Saying that, it was useful information.

"No, I would wager that there's secret members to their group!" Brian explained, going over the charts and information, "I don't doubt Bad Penny is that smart, certainly her tech skill is flexible but these kids have to have been trained. Our current theory is the local boss, Spider, arranged some old school villains to tutor them, not that different to your setup with the Titans!"

I clocked Wally and Diana's exchanged looks, the other reason I was here was to subtly look in Brian's mind. He has some mind powers as well, of course, so he'd notice a brute force attack.

I was basically a lie detector.

"I wouldn't rule out the possibility of there being just kids, but it's way more likely an adult is training and teaching them. Possibly a tech villain who's good with kids like Lab Rat or the Evil Eye."

We sat in his old ship, it hadn't moved in decades and had been built onto the side of the house in a weird art deco style. The multiple floors, some of which were below ground, were now mostly a laboratory, although behind that and around the sides the original consoles were still there. Clean and no doubt functional.

Brian looked old. After falling in love with Beaty, one of the strategists the L.E.G.I.O.N employed over the years, Brian had chosen to shuck off most of the Coulan limitations he'd grown up with.

Emotional suppressors, feeding tubes, external memory cards were all gone. He still maintained a connection to the Big Brain, supposedly, and used it to make a living reverse engineering mad science. Still, his skin had lightened over years without the nutrient paste, his face softened and body fattened.

He was an icon. One of only a few heroes around who'd been alive in the 40's. Former leader of the L.E.G.I.O.N, a galactic police force that governed our sector of space, up until the war with the Conquerors. If Diana was right, and this guy's daughter was Bad Penny? It's honestly no surprise they're as good as professionals.
"What surprises me is how well these kids understand League training,  its almost like they,  or their benefactor has had a Hero License!" This time I have Diana a side look.

<isn't that pushing the boundaries a bit?> I asked her telepathically.

<Don't worry I'm not cruising for a mind wipe.  And I'm going somewhere with this!>

"There are plenty of retired heroes like yourself who know former villains.  You have the Minx, everyone knows Bull and then there's people like Cat-woman and Harlequin. I plan to recommend to the League we tighten security.  No unlocked computers, keep kids who aren't going for licences away from sensitive materials." Diana looked at me, raising an eyebrow in challenge?

Thinking for a bit I sighed, it was a valid point.  "That would include your kid too Brian. Heck, half the old guard have kids!"
Brian nodded sagely, sitting on the corner of his work desk.  "Yeah, I guess I agree.  Penny's gift has been coming along and I'd hoped to start training her. " He beamed all the sudden,  "But maybe she and her friends can join this Teen Titan project ! Can we look into that?"

"Yeeeaaaah." Diane mused, she struggled to keep herself laughing. Then it happened!

<Weeeooooeeeeooooeeeooo intruder alert Weeeooooeeeeooooeeeooo>

"AAAAH!" I clutched my head, in the middle of the conversation with no explanation my brain started screaming, it took me a moment to realise this was my Base alarm system. The last time it trusted was back in the 90s!
<Weeeooooeeeeooooeeeooo, request instruction>

"Megan, what, what's going on?" the group around me focused in, I was obviously in pain but they couldn't exactly help. Certainly Diana had seen me experience psychic feedback before?

"Did, did anyone announce a raid on League members?" I asked, getting curious looks.

<Silence!> I commanded the alarm system mentally, then reached my thoughts out to the system, feeling the edges of it inter-weave with the edges of me.

"No, The Inscrutable Machine announced a series of robberies, but."

"Was there anything about Star Labs?" I demanded, I could barely hear or see them anymore.

The sound of a keyboard clacking, "Yes. It's on the list of things announced, they're going to attempt to steal 'The Pen!'"

"HA! They're there now!" I told them matter of factly. "Looks like I'll have to fight them off. Wally, Can you get there?"

"Sure! Can you do this while I transport you?" I nodded, feeling a flash of wind, and slowly I settled into my Base's guardian system. First vision came on, then sound, then physical responses. My body felt big, heavy, strong. I kept this thing around in case of emergencies and it looked like today I'd get to use it.