Chapter 42

Law PoV

It’s taken quite awhile for me to really organize my lab equipment and inventory. See, I never really had a super organized list that said what everything did or what it was all used for. That kind of stuff I just remembered. With labels being occasionally used to help jog my memory.

But…that wasn’t really cutting it now. Not only did I have much more equipment, but I also had so many more projects that were being worked on. Projects that needed time to develop. And a timer on my phone wasn’t really cutting it.

There was also two other reasons that I was taking inventory.

The first was the venom episode where I blacked out. I needed to know what projects were lost in that accident and needed to be replaced. The second which I think might just be connected, was my fight with Ravager. Which was the name that had been decided by the Titans for the girl under Deathstroke.

During that fight, a strange white substance seemed to have came out of my body and covered that hand completely. It flowed like a liquid, but the power behind it was too stable to be anything but solid. No, even ignoring that, so much of it had appeared on my hand.

That had been a fuck ton of that strange substance. Enough to easily triple the size of my hand. Which for all accounts wasn’t something I could actually produce. The blood loss would leave me anemic, if not worse.

Yet I had been completely fine. Even stranger, that substance hadn’t come from me using my ability. Or at least, I don’t think it did. It’s possible and even reasonable to assume that maybe there’s still things about my ability that even I don’t know about.

But even then…

What the actual fuck was it?

It was my suspicion that taking note of all the projects and vials that had been shattered in my lab would help me find out. Perhaps one of the vials had something that acted strangely when combined with another project.

Though so far I haven’t had much luck in finding anything of note. Mostly due to relying solely on my memory, as nothing was really categorized. Of the twenty projects and vials that had been shattered, I only currently knew about seven.

Four of which were variations of a sort of instant fog or smoke effect. Each of them having different effects, but ultimately were scrapped and put away due to being failures. One of which was a choking gas agent, that had been very effective…on me.

I only realized that the fragment of Clayface that I had obtained for research was gone after realizing the need to establish an inventory of these things. I wasn’t sure where I had placed it, so it was only a guess at this point that it had been one of the vials that had been caught up in the mix.

The last that I had recognized was a small side project that I had made forever ago. Something that I thought I shelved on the completed shelf long ago, but when I did inventory over there, I realized it hadn’t been there.

It was this idea I had with a replicated piece of Plasmus and tree sap. Honestly the details were a bit hard to remember, even for me. The only thing I had really remembered was that nothing of any real note had come from it.

It was possible that I had misplaced it, or more accurately, just forgot that it existed. Leading to it being destroyed in the accident.

I had an idea of another project that was missing, but I genuinely couldn’t remember the specifics of it. All I remember about it was that it was related to one of my many variations of Langstrom’s formula.

Hmm. Well, I’m sure it’ll come to me in time.

In between taking inventory and installing new expensive equipment into the Lab, I had also started to go through a very interesting and detailed document that had been delivered to me by Batman himself.

It was a Tablet that didn’t have the ability to connect to anything, not even a charger. Though thankfully it didn’t seem to need to as it never turned off. There were a few other security protections features on the tablet that helped drive home how serious they were about this information. And how much they obviously didn’t want this information getting out.

It was about Kryptonian physiology and biology. Extremely in-depth knowledge about both and how they functioned down to the cellular level. It was all very interesting from a scientific perspective, but my interest only grew when I realized how this information was being presented.

At first, I thought someone on the Justice League had written this document for me. Probably Superman as he would be the one to have actual information about Kryptonians.

But the way this information is conveyed…

It wasn’t just stating facts or observations. Everything was being broken down and carefully organized in order for me to better understand the contents and the next chapter.

It was like some sort of…medical textbook.

It was also massive. Which fits with how in-depth it went. Even providing pictures on occasion. Though I did notice that it seemed like some of these pictures were missing. As the text would refer to them, only for them to not be there.

Curious, and curiouser.

Unfortunately, there was only so much I could read before I was actually needed. That was actually something of a rarity though, as the city had been pretty silent lately. Maybe the Titans had made such an overwhelming presence that criminals were even scared to try.

It wasn’t like the Batman where the day was less risky than the night. Or with Superman who was only one man. The Titans was a group who…didn’t really have anything else to really do but beat the shit out of criminals.

As crazy as this sounds, I think that Jump City might actually be the safest city in America.

Though I think that might also bring its fair share of problems…

Whatever the case, most of everyone’s time was spent in the Tower. Which while some were fine with, others were…less so. A few others seemed to crave at least some sort either action or just social contact that wasn’t us.

Which might be why we were scheduled for an interview later. Or at least me, Robin, Kid Flash, and Beast Boy were. Beast Boy’s whole Youtube thing blew up and became really popular. I guess people like weird videos of superheroes or something.

It wasn’t something I could understand or really get into personally. But in doing so, he started to get connections and even invitations from different news networks. Said invitations were given to pretty much the entire Titans, and it was agreed on that these interviews could be used to improve our reputation.

Though I’m not sure how well that’s going to work considering Beast Boy is handling the interview in Jump City. He was definitely the most likable Titan out of everyone, but he also didn’t exactly have a filter. He just says what he feels in a given moment.

Kid Flash and Robin were handling interviews from their own home city. Maybe so they could ask them to come back or something? Or maybe to just push headlines. I got no clue.

I was voted to take on some sort of interview from a news agency in Metropolis. Apparently, it was the number one most viewed news source in the city. Which did actually mean a lot when two through ten was owned by Lex Luthor.

Well, it was something I didn’t have to think about just yet, as Black Canary had once again come to the Tower in order to train all of us again. Which thankfully gave me the excuse I needed to not ‘spar’ with Galatea.

Instead, I sparred with Black Canary. Who was only marginally better. Especially when she just increases her own ability according to my newfound strength every time. Though at least this time I seemed to be able to deal some actual damage to her.

It wasn’t due to my new power though. Or at least, I don’t think it was. During the entire spar Black Canary seemed to be elsewhere. Focusing on different parts of the room and becoming lost in thought. She even stared straight at the ground in front of me for awhile before I got her attention again.

She still pretty much wiped the floor with me though. I wasn’t sure if things would change if I surged my body with venom, but I also wasn’t willing to try it. Ace in the hole were aces because they weren’t expected after all.

After a while we stopped to have a break. I took a small bit of pride in the fact that Black Canary winced a bit when she touched the side of her ribs, and was actually sweating. Though I’m pretty sure I was still sweating more than her. Causing me to use my shirt in order to wipe my forehead.

“So…what’s on your mind?”

“Huh?”

Black Canary answered in confusion, causing me to look over at her. She seemed a bit…panicked? Hmm. Interesting. Perhaps it was something important.

“You seemed pretty out of it today. I assume something was bothering you.”

Black Canary then hummed in understanding. Her expression immediately relaxing, before becoming mischievous.

“Oh? Is someone worried about me?”

“Less worried, more curious.”

I answered, which drew a faux outraged look from Black Canary, who after chuckling relaxed once more.

“Eh, nothing really that important. More importantly, I heard you were going to do an interview with the Daily Planet.”

She changed the conversation. And in a pretty obvious way too. Which likely meant that it was actually important. Or maybe it wasn’t important to anyone else, but it was to her. If I had to guess, I’d say it was related to Green Arrow.

That or she found out she was pregnant. Definitely one of the two.

“I believe so.”

In truth I wasn’t really well versed in what their actual name was. For a moment I was suspicious about the fact that Black Canary was familiar with the name, before remembering that Metropolis was Superman’s city. There wasn’t a newspaper in the city that didn’t cover him. So it made sense that the Justice League would know about them.

“What are you planning to talk about? Maybe how you decided to be the partner of THE Black Canary?”

“I think I’m a bit too young for that.”

Black Canary huffed in amusement before forcefully rummaging her hand on top of my head with a smile.

“You know what I meant.”

I nodded my head as I started to fix my hair. An act that seemed to further her amusement though I made no show to acknowledge it.

“Tell the Daily Planet that I was the side kick of Black Canary? Maybe I should.”

She gave me a surprised look. How interesting, did she not think I would accept? It was true that for a while I hadn’t considered on actually doing it, but after the talk with Galatea…well, my mind was changed.

“…really?”

Black Canary betrayed her surprise even further. How amusing. Perhaps it was time to actually turn the tables on her.

“Of course. I mean, who wouldn’t brag about being the sidekick to the most beautiful and badass woman on the Justice League?”

“Hah! When did you become such a flatterer?”

Whenever it benefited me to do so. Black Canary shoved my shoulder lightly as she grinned…revealing a small amount of blush on her cheeks. Oh? So she actually took that as a compliment, did she? Or perhaps she was embarrassed by it. Either way, it was amusing to see.

“So, when is our first mission, boss?”

Black Canary paused at that. Her eyes widening in shock at me…for some reason? She blinked a few times when I frowned at her.

“Oooh, I like that.”

…what?

“You…like what?”

“Nothing. How does right after this workout sound?”

That was way too fucking soon.

“Can’t. I still have the Daily planet interview in a bit.”

She nodded her head at that.

“Right. Right. After it then.”

That was at least a lot more manageable. Considering how taken aback Black Canary was and how awkward she was being…it seemed like she was absolutely new to this whole sidekick thing.

Well, I guess it’d be an interesting experience at least.