Chapter 80

Law PoV

The head of the mannequin was quite impressive. It was something I not only couldn’t see myself making a year ago, but also wouldn’t believe that such a thing was possible.

The facial features of it were…passable. Ish. But the true spectacle was the insides. It had the same veins and nerve endings as a normal human being. Complete with its own blood.

Of course, it wasn’t the exact same material. Creating actual functioning nerve endings would be rather world changing after all. They were all just supplemental replacements. Ones that obviously didn’t quite live up to the real thing.

But it was more than enough to help with testing within the tower. Coming up with new ways to use my ability was intriguing, but also rather dangerous. And of course there were the experiments…

Which was quite self-evident really.

Those were the biggest reasons the Lab was closed off to the other Titans. Well, most of them at least.  

There were only two that were allowed access within. No more, and no less. Galatea didn’t really need to be explained. What on earth could even begin to touch her? Which is…a question that kind of sparks a certain interest in me. One that was a bit too dangerous at the moment.

The second was Starfire.

While she could likely endure quite a number of my experiments, I wasn’t exactly keen on testing it. Even so, I was confident in my ability to ‘Starfire proof’ the place.

It helped that Starfire wasn’t the curious sort. Well, she was, but she wasn’t the Robin, Artemis, or Kid Flash sort that’d see things and start asking questions. Questions that I’d much rather not answer…for now at least.

With a low hum, I slowly placed each of my five fingers upon the face of the mannequin. My thumb on its right cheek. My index finger right below the eye but still within the socket. My middle finger resting gently on the temple. My ring finger near the back cheek bone on the left side. My pinky right below the jawline.

With only an errant thought the artificial face bulged out harshly. The pressure building up behind it before finally exploding in a shower of synthetic parts.

“…Neat.”

Galatea offered from across the room. Her hands folded up in front of her as she gazed neutrally over at me. She had been waiting there for about ten minutes. Simply watching me as I continued to work.

If she was waiting for me to acknowledge her, she’d have probably been a bit more heavy handed in her approach.  It was more likely instead of wanting something she was just bored.

Exploding the face off of the mannequin was primarily just for some macabre satisfaction. It was pretty much used up at this point, and wasn’t necessary for any experiments at the moment. Perhaps in the future I’d need another, but by then I’d actually need to make a new one due to the previous one expiring.

And well, it was better to go out in a blaze of glory than to just slowly wither away.

…For a mannequin, at least.

“I hope you don’t plan on actually using that later, or you might run into a bit of trouble.”

Immediately the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I quickly faced towards the familiar voice. A voice that definitely doesn’t belong in my Lab. In fact, I’d probably go as far as to say she was in the top ten list of individuals I absolutely wouldn’t want to even step foot in here.

My teacher, Black Canary, was near the entryway of the room with her eyebrow slowly raised in questioning manner at the mannequin.

What was she doing here? How did she get through the alarm systems? Did she intentionally get through for some reason? Why? Just to show she could, or was she looking for something specifically?

You could always play it safe and give her the five-star resort treatment you gave Pinky. I’m pretty interested in what faces she’ll make.

Shut up.

…Pinky? Ah, she was talking about Jinx. Mmm. Right, that had been an unfortunate slip up.

But one that worked in your favor. So, it wasn’t bad. Not really.

Was there a point here?

I think there’s simply something to be said about the effectiveness of it all.

Right. Well, if I ever feel like torturing people with chemical weapons, you’ll be the first to know. Right after I move to Gotham and change my name to Scarecrow, of course.

But I was getting sidetracked.

Which was actually a bit beneficial, as I was much calmer then previously. Allowing me to situate myself better and lead the conversation.

“Are you sure? I have it on good authority that this technique is quite therapeutic.”

“I don’t think when they asked for a ‘deep tissue massage’ they meant that deep.”  

Black Canary offered back easily enough. Falling comfortably back into simple banter. She didn’t seem on guard in the slightest, despite having needed to have gotten through my defense systems.

The fact that she wasn’t more on guard at least told me that she didn’t see anything too interesting. That or she was playing it off, which wasn’t exactly her style.

Or rather it was exactly her style with criminals, much less so the people she feels closer towards.

Galatea also didn’t seem very surprised either. Which pointed to the fact that they came together. Even so, that would only help get passed a few checkpoints. The rest Black Canary would have needed to actively try to slip past.

Then it seemed as if the best move is to be direct.

“Are you here for a specific reason? Or do you just make it a habit of invading the privacy of others?”

Black Canary opened her mouth to speak, but it was Galatea’s voice that answered first.

“I wanted to hang out with you.”

I blinked in surprise. Something Black Canary mirrored as we looked over at Galatea together. Who seemed to be feeling a little uncomfortable at both of our gazes.

Galatea narrowed her eyes at me before continuing.

“…And to have sex.”

Ah. Well, that was much more expected at least. Even so, it almost felt a bit…forced. It would seem I really did need to allocate some time alone with Galatea today. It has been a bit since we’ve actually hung out now that I think about it.

Black Canary’s eyebrows shot up at Galatea’s exclamation. Obviously having her own thoughts about Galatea’s upfront and direct style. Something she probably wasn’t used to seeing in such a different light.

“Oookay then. Uh, I think maybe-“

I of course saw the inky little blob before it dropped on top of Black Canary, but I said nothing. For one, the sudden situation she was about to find herself in might clue me in further as to what she was doing here and if it went any deeper. For two, if Black Canary had stolen from me, then whatever it had been would get destroyed.

And for three, well, she really had it coming, didn’t she?

“-AH! What the hell!?”

Black Canary immediately recoiled as the slimy weight hit her back before quickly engulfing her midsection. Inque slowly ballooned outwards while Black canary struggled fruitlessly around the front hallway trying to get it off. Until finally Black Canary’s limbs could no longer be moved in any sort of meaningful way.

Her head and the tip of her fingers was the only thing not completely consumed into it’s body. The fact that it had been so effective brought a smile to my face. Even if part of the reason why was because Black Canary wasn’t stupid enough to actually use her power in the tower.

“Uh, can I get a hand here guys?”

“Oh? And from where I was standing it seemed you were doing such a good job of sneaking into the Lab all alone. Are you sure you really need any help?”

Black Canary rolled her eyes before giving me a wry smirk. The tips of her fingers wiggling outside of the inky body that enveloped her.

“Haha, alright. You got me.”

Mmm. Right.

“Hmm, I’m not too sure. I think we should give Black Canary another twenty-four hours to see if she can break out of this one. What do you think, Galatea?”

Galatea paused before nodding.

“That sounds pretty fair.”

Black Canary was slightly alarmed at this and started to wiggle her fingers a bit more wildly.

“Alright, I see what’s happening here. I’m sorry. I was just curious as to how tight security was, and then it became a thing of whether I could…I…uh…”

In the middle of talking, Black Canary’s face seemed to fall to a frown. Seeming a bit uncomfortable in the middle of the blob.

That was odd.

“Is something wrong?”

“I feel…almost itchy.”

That…sounded a bit bad actually. Inque shouldn’t be dissolving skin, only electronics and a few other things from the lab. Actual skin was a no no and extensively tested for safety reasons.

If she was simply trying to trick me into quickly freeing her, she was doing a pretty good job of it.

Just as I took a step forward towards Black Canary, the inside of Inque’s liquid churned. Revealing Black Canary’s frame inside, as well as what was currently dissolving inside.

The good news was that it wasn’t her skin. The bad news was that it was her outfit.

“Huh. Interesting. Do you know what your outfit is made out of by chance?”

“…Why?”

Something about the tone of my voice must have tipped Black Canary off, as she quickly attempted to look down at her body. Through a few trial and errors, she finally got the angle she wanted.

And was very much not pleased at what she saw.

“Alright. You win Law. I’ll never do this again as long as-“

“You’re right. You won’t be doing this again, will you?”

I commented before starting to walk forward towards the exit. Both Inque and Galatea seemed to have gotten the message as they both followed behind. Black Canary kept complaining and trying to negotiate as we entered the elevator.

Unfortunately for her, I was a rather petty individual.

If someone slighted me, it’s only natural to slight them right back. That was just the code I lived by.

Even as the elevator started to close and Black Canary became more panicked, she did not beg. Despite being rather kind and an almost parental figure for some of the Titans, she was also rather prideful.

And sometimes those with great prides needed to be taken down a peg or two to realize when they’ve made a mistake. To also teach them to not do that ever again.

Hopefully this would be Black Canary’s learning moment.

My phone buzzed for a few seconds, causing me to fish it out of my pocket. As it was my actual work phone any messages that got sent were rather important to look at. There weren’t too many that had the number. Pretty much all of the titans, and likely a few Justice League members.

So, when I realized the text wasn’t from any known contact, my interest was immediately piqued.

BG: Hi! I heard from a mutual friend of ours that I could hopefully count on you for a bit of help. =D
BG: Of course, if you don’t want to help, I’d completely understand. It’s not like we’ve ever met before or anything.
BG: But it would mean a lot if you did. >_<

…What the hell?

Author's Note: Both updates I should've done over a week ago. They just completely escaped me. Thankfully I will be having a lot more free time than normal this month, so I'll probably be able to work on this story a good bit more than usual. Anyway, Hope you enjoy.