Londyn looked at a wall of monitors. Some displayed ILS reports, others live news feeds, still others the security cameras from ILS super containment centers. She watched as villains were forcibly calmed. She watched monsters lay on the ground. She watched as the people discussed and debated what was occurring.

Through it all, her face remained expressionless, her arms crossed.

 

The world was at peace.

Maybe it wasn’t the prettiest.

Maybe it wasn’t what everyone wanted.

 

But it is necessary.

 

It was peace.

In its ideal form.

No more violence.

No more death.

No more gods standing above the rest, determining who lives and who dies, tossing people aside like furniture.

No more evil masterminds, weaving their dark plans and manipulating the masses.

No more monsters, savage beasts they couldn’t communicate with.

Right now, the only thing threatening people…were people.

And all thanks to Londyn.

 

Yes, all thanks to me.

 

Because she made the hard choices.

Because she did what it takes.

 

Because something terrible will happen if I don’t.

 

Because she’s the Director of the International League of Superheroes, and she would protect the world.

And she was done holding back.

 

In fact, I might need to go further…

 

Just then, Roxanne walked up to her.

 

“Roxanne.”

 

“Hello Director.”

 

“Keep up the good work, everything’s going as planned.”

 

Roxanne frowned.

 

“Not everything.”

 

“How so?”

 

Roxanne puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms.

 

“I still can’t find that Bob guy. I don’t get it. I told everyone to catch him, so how did he escape? It’s frustrating. Can’t I just grab him like the rest?”

 

Londyn frowned slightly.

 

“I told you to forget it. This isn’t about him.”

 

Roxanne tilted her head.

 

“Isn’t it, though?”

 

“No. It’s not. Not anymore.”

 

Londyn narrowed her eyes at the wall of screens.

 

“We’re here to protect the world. To defeat the villains. Nothing less, nothing more. I’m not interested in personal vendettas. I’m interested in peace. That’s it. Bob…can go and rot for all I care. He can’t do anything more. It’s not his world anymore.”

 

It’s mine.

 

Roxanne frowned. But Londyn turned and left the room without another world.

 

“...I don’t get it. She says that…but she keeps thinking about him? Like, doesn’t she actually really want to see him and show him up? Is that why she doesn’t want me to take control of him? And her thoughts…her thoughts are kind of weird…like they keep jumping between focusing on Bob and ignoring him…”

 

Roxanne shrugged. She knew better than to dig too deep into Londyn’s head again. She had finally got the stupid name changed, after all. So she just headed back to the targeting center.

 

“Well, she didn’t specifically say not to have people grab him. Let’s take another look…”

 

---

 

Captain Hot Devil crossed his arms and heaved a sigh.

 

Yep.

 

He had no idea what he was doing.

 

The group of heroes were sitting at computers at the ILS Main HQ in New York. What they had learned was Dr. Fraser had departed the HQ with a team via grav-jet, and has not been seen since. Of course, officially said trip was off the record, so the HQ staff couldn’t say anything more.

 

But that didn’t mean there was no trail at all.

 

And so the team was staring at the navigational data from the ILS’s grav-jets. Since the grav-jets had highly effective stealth technology, the ILS made sure to keep track of their locations at any given time. It would not do for one to go missing and for the ILS’s proprietary technologies to end up in the wrong hands.

The problem was…the sheer quantity of data.

And the fact that none of them knew how to interpret any of it.

The ILS staff were more than happy to turn a blind eye to the heroes accessing the extremely classified data…but in order to turn said blind eye they were not allowed to help. Plausible deniability and all that.

Captain Hot Devil took a moment to stretch and glanced over at the groaning teenagers.

 

“Why don’t you all take a break?”

 

“But…”

 

One of their stomachs growled. The Captain let out a chuckle.

 

“Maybe get some lunch?”

 

A handful of flushed faces nodded.

 

---

 

The team was walking out of the nearest burger joint when Chronolock got another text. She took a deep breath and took out her phone.

 

Sarcastic Observation: Aurora Legion appears to be stuck. Do the heroes require rescue?

 

Chronolock just closed her eyes and practiced her breathing.

 

Instruction: Please visit nearby alley for assistance. Helpful Recommendation: Please do not attempt to act inconspicuous. Aurora Legion stealth attempts have a counterproductive result.

 

Aurora Legion paused as Voidspeaker noticed Chronolock fall behind them, her eye twitching.

 

“Chrono, everything all right?”

 

She heaved a dramatic sigh.

 

“Fine. Just, fine. Just…give me a moment, and I’ll catch up.”

 

Voidspeaker raised an eyebrow but nodded to the rest of the team.

 

“Everyone else can go ahead. I’ll wait for her here.”

 

“...thanks.”

 

With that Chronolock froze time. She walked around the frozen pedestrians towards the specified alley.

There stood Elise.

Chronolock walked behind the cyborg, crossed her arms, and resumed time. She opened her mouth to speak…

 

“Greetings: Hello Chronolock.”

 

Chronolock’s left eye twitched again.

 

“Condescending Explanation: This unit suspected Chronolock would attempt to use powers for an ambush. This unit has been searching for Chronolock’s energy signature in response.”

 

“...leave ‘condescending’ out of your dictionary from now on.”

 

“Insincere Apology: This unit will try with utmost effort.”

 

“...you said you can help?”

 

Elise turned around and held out her hand, holding a small USB drive.

 

“Explanation: Aurora Legion is unable to parse data for actionable intel, correct? This unit happens to be capable of quick and effective data analysis.”

 

“...if you know all that, why not hack it yourself?”

 

“Explanation: This unit is capable of such, but ILS will detect external intrusion on the server in question. This unit has calculated said risk is unnecessary while friendly Aurora Legion has direct access to internal hardware ports.”

 

“...that didn’t bother you when you hacked our matches.”

 

“Clarification: This unit has never hacked combat simulations. Such measures would violate simulation integrity and invalidate results.”

 

“THAT’S BULL! You obviously used an aimbot!”

 

“Smug Query: Why would this unit use an aimbot? This unit’s own targeting protocols are significantly more efficient.”

 

Chronolock grit her teeth and trembled.

 

“You…”

 

“Helpful Recommendation: Chronolock is being left behind by Aurora Legion. Voidspeaker is growing concerned. Recommend Chronolock return quickly.”

 

With that, Elise vanished in a puff of smoke.

 

Chronolock grit her teeth the entire way back to the HQ.

 

---

 

The team continued their work for another hour with no luck. Wonder Knight was leaning with both elbows on the desk, hands gripping his hair. Pink Star continued to sigh over and over. Icy Rose kept at it…but her glazed over eyes indicated her current level of focus. Voidspeaker had given up entirely and was researching eldritch rituals that might help instead.

Captain Hot Devil was taking a break, leaning back in his chair. He glanced over at the team.

Chronolock was fidgeting, her brow scrunched up.

 

“Chronolock, what is it?”

 

The girl jumped a bit at being addressed, the rest of the team turning to glance at her as well. She let out a sigh and reached into her pocket, pulling out the drive she had received.

 

“It’s…if we can’t do this…I received an offer of help.”

 

Voidspeaker immediately shook his head.

 

“No!”

 

Wonder Knight frowned.

 

“I’m kind of with Void on this one.”

 

Pink Star crossed her arms.

 

“Seems like a bad idea.”

 

Icy Rose simply nodded.

 

Captain Hot Devil raised an eyebrow. Aurora Legion exchanged glances before all looking at Wonder Knight. The boy heaved a sigh.

 

“We’re helping…someone. That much we decided. And we know they would be able to help with this, probably immediately. But giving them access to a secure ILS server…”

 

“Do you trust them?”

 

“With this? No.”

 

“Absolutely not.”

 

“Maybe a little bit? Maybe?”

 

“We don’t really know her that well.”

 

“...I hate her, to be honest.”

 

Captain Hot Devil shrugged.

 

“That’s your call to make. I don’t know your ally or how urgent your mission is, so I can’t say it’s worth the risk or not.”

 

He leaned back, putting his hands behind his head.

 

“All I know is I want to find the Director as soon as possible, and I don’t much care how. So I’d ask, how focused is this ally of yours on the current mission? If they aren’t going to do anything with the data while the mission is in progress, we can always inform the ILS once we’re done.”

 

The team looked around at each other.

They thought back to that first night.

 

“...Sincere Request: This unit’s friends are in danger…and pain. This unit cannot rescue them alone. Please help…my…friends.”

 

Slowly, one by one, they nodded. Chronolock held her head and groaned.

 

“This is a really bad idea.”

 

And she plugged in the drive.

 

---

 

Elise stood on a rooftop near the HQ.

Teasing Chronolock was fun…but that is not why the cyborg did it.

 

Her friends…were in the hands of her rivals.

 

With her organic components on standby, she had to devote a large portion of her processing power to functions normally handled by her organic mind. And any task that routed through the organic mind was simply moving significantly slower, due to the hardware being in a resting state.

Under these conditions she could not guarantee an undetected infiltration into the ILS’s secure servers, while simultaneously parsing and analyzing the data in question to search for a lead the Director of the ILS would have taken every effort to hide.

So she had to depend on Aurora Legion…who seemed highly inexperienced and increasingly inefficient at these sorts of tasks.

 

She did not need her organic components fully active to understand that this situation was frustrating.

 

And now she had to hope that Aurora Legion trusted her enough to grant her direct access to a secure ILS server…or else could somehow figure out how to parse the data on their own.

 

All while her friends were suffering.

 

She decided she would hand Chronolock one simulation match loss for every minute she was delayed.

 

And then…Elise felt the drive connect to the server.

She immediately leapt into action, parsing the data as quickly as she could.

She isolated the grav-jets that left within the time-frame the heroes had identified. She cross referenced the positions with ILS activity across the globe, drawing on Nemesis and AVS data from that time period.

 

And then she found it.

 

A location that could not be cross-referenced with any other ILS activity.

 

An uninhabited mountain with no reported villain activity or monster sightings. Where the AVS wasn’t active.

 

Elise’s robotic eye flashed.

 

“...Statement: Target acquired. Informing Commander Bob. Status Report: This…my…friends, please remain on standby for this unit’s arrival. Assistance is enroute.”