Chapter Three: Innocence Lost

Finn stood silently in the Outsider’s warehouse as he looked at the group assembling everyone was there, Michelle, Iren, Ross and even Erick. Meanwhile Isaac was scrambling around the room as he grabbed a lot of pieces and the mouse cages. He loaded up something on the computer and then stood still as he looked at everyone.

“Ok everyone, let’s talk. Last night the assholes we faced, we can assume that they came from the sewer with the liquid; now I grabbed a sample of that liquid and intended on analyzing it.” Isaac said as he reached into his cargo shorts and pulled out an empty vial. “I didn’t get to.”

“What happened, were you attacked; don’t tell me you spilled it and we have to find more, we’re already viewed negatively enough.” Michelle said as she rolled her eyes at Isaac and leaned over to Finn. She seemed to be staying away from Iren and Ross, he wondered what was happening.

“No, instead as I came home the liquid reacted and so did little old mousey boy in this cage here. No in the pursuit of science I spilled some in, and then all of it… well anyone notice anything different?” Isaac said as he walked forward to the table he set up and placed the cage on it. Finn leaned forward and looked at the cage. The mouse seemed to be revitalized, scurrying around its cage with glee and joy.

“It’s bigger, it wasn’t much bigger than my finger yesterday but now it seems to be almost as big as my fist is.” Ross said as he walked over and closed his fist, the mouse walked up to him and he looked at his skin. Ross squeezed and turned his fist into the metal but the mouse quickly grew disinterested. 

“Now I added about a full vial by accident and on that it grew at least twice as large, but what was interesting was that the mouse turned into the liquid and then changed back as it gathered the fluid, this tells me on some level that the particles of the liquid are able to change organic matter.” Isaac said as he put his hand forward and grabbed the cage. He put it away and instead focused on the super computer screen.

“Now than in the interest of science I examined further. I placed a nice slab of meat in our quark microscope and extracted some of the liquid from the mouse, now the liquid did something interesting.” Isaac said as he placed footage up and it showed red molecules floating around and then suddenly large silver molecules entered and quickly something interesting happened.

“They absorbed the organic molecules and then seemingly replaced them in every function, but they’re more like a collection of molecules; proteins or something encased in metal. They can change themselves and I think we might be dealing with nanoparticles.”  Isaac said as he smiled, looking at the nanoparticles on the screen. They changed from silver and instead formed the same red color; it was like the meat was never gone.     

And then suddenly the video stopped, the video froze and artifacts appeared on the screen as it flashed for a few seconds and then was replaced by another video. Finn backed up as he realized who was sending them the video, Owlman smiled on the screen as he appeared on the large super computer screen.

“Ah hello Outsiders, may I just say what a nice morning this is, and how excited I am to ruin it later today, so let’s cut to the chase how does that sound?” Owlman said as he adjusted the camera and twisted his neck his cowl adjusted as he smiled at them. Finn looked at Isaac who started to type and used a second screen presumably to find the source of the video.

“So then here you are, well we have you figured out now.” Finn said as he walked forward into the range of the camera and made sure that Owlman could see him, he waited for a few seconds but Owlman’s pause still continued. Finn turned flustered, why was Owlman ignoring him?

“Oh sorry, can’t hear you if you haven’t noticed yet. This thing called the forth wall separates us, and why would I be stupid enough to send you a live feed. Now don’t worry little computer worker, you can’t trace me. I sent these days ago from your perspective.” Owlman smiled as he looked particularly smug and twitted his fingers.  

“Now then why don’t we talk like adults, you should be prepared for an all-out war. Because I intend on taking this city down and burning it to the ground, this will be the end of Carson City as you know it.” Owlman said as he reached down and pressed a video the whole screen cut out and he disappeared. Finn looked forward as he saw Isaac desperately typing on the screen. 

Finn walked forward and looked at Isaac as he realized the more and more nonsense was being typed on screen. Isaac looked completely exhausted and he started to gasp as he stepped away from the screen and looked. He found nothing, Isaac backed up and he seemed to be destroyed.

“Isaac how many hours has it been since you were last asleep.” Finn said as he pulled Isaac away from the computer and looked at him, he seemed like he was about to be a complete wreak. Isaac wobbled forward and looked at Finn, as he fell down nearly. Finn caught him and kept him stable.

“Guys I think Isaac is a little tired from working all day, I’m going to go put him in his bed and let him sleep for a while; Michelle can you get him a pass?” Finn said as he dragged Isaac away from the screen and towards the door. Michelle nodded at him and he pulled him towards his own house.

…

Ross looked around the teacher was teaching and everyone was sitting at their own desks, but they were all socializing. The door was open and the hallway was free, he looked at his watch and knew that he had two hours until lunch. He was board and he was at the same time horrified, he wanted to be out in the streets.

He slid himself off his seat he calmly walked out the door and like that he disappeared as he walked out of the classroom. Making sure that he was clear he stood up and looked around, no one was around and monitoring the hallway at this point in the day. He was free to wonder the halls.

Walking forward, Ross went to usual spot, he walked forward through the hallways and walked forwards the south side of the building.  Passing through a janitor’s hallway, he reached an exit and opening the door he walked outside. He wished he didn’t have school, or that he didn’t so much stupid stuff to worry about. If only everyone had super powers only if everyone could protect themselves and not have to worry about being attacked. That would be the day.

Ross leaned against the railing of the deck, it faced south into the desert and looked over nearly the whole of the city. He could see for miles and miles against the clear air and dry sand. Tiny gusts of winds that was surely ten or more miles away blew up a tiny sandstorm in the distance.

And then he felt a hand touch his back, looking back he felt the scales and knew that it was Erick. To his surprise Billy stood behind Erick as well, shutting the door and making sure he wasn’t followed. Billy closed the door and smiled at Ross as he looked out.

“How did you know that I was going to be here today?” Ross said as Billy walked over and put his arms around Ross’s head. Ross smiled as he leaned backed and enjoyed the other dragon’s presence. He wished Billy could have powers so that he could protect himself. Ross wished he could have better powers or he could be better trained, he was useless in battle, he was just a punching bag.

“Well there was an attack last night, and I know how you get after battle; especially if it’s a new foe like the one last night. Also you walked right by my class and I just wanted to say hi.” Bill said as he rubbed Ross’s chest and they just stayed there. He looked out into the sand and looked forward it would be hard to protect all of it.

“Oh you know me so well, how many chanced at a normal life with you have I thrown away, have many times have I tried to protect everyone and failed, why do I have to be cursed with useless powers, I just freeze up in battle are rarely do I make a difference, mate.” Ross said as he soured and just looked off into the desert looking forward and just trying to shut the world out.

“I’m just afraid, something happened last night. A new enemy appeared and they are big and bad and I don’t want to loss anyone and I just wish there was a way that everyone could protect everyone, if everyone had superpowers well then that’d be a dream come true.” Ross said as he looked at Billy who was looked out at the city as well, so many people to protect could he protect them all, did he knew it he could.

“Oh god Ross, you want to protect so many people, shame, I believe you can do it.” Billy said as he gave Ross a kiss on the cheek and backed up. He looked over at Erick who nodded at him. Ross stood up and looked at them and nodded, they were going to protect the city the best they could and they were going to make sure everyone stayed alive.

“Good on you Ross good on you, it might hurt to know that somebody has to die but if you keep on going this way well then maybe you can, maybe you just can protect everyone; we believe in your Ross.” Erick said as he gave Ross a thumbs up and walked back into the school, he would let the two love birds have their time.

Walking back into the school, the smile on his face disappeared. He hated searching through people’s mind, it was an invasion of privacy and even through Bill commissioned him to do it still felt wrong and dirt no matter how many times he tried to justify it. He walked back into the main hallway and looked forward.

Turning to his left Isaac was currently knocking on a door with flowers in his hand and a nice suit on. He had a bag over his back and seemed to be surprising someone, he didn’t want to interrupt and just walked forward, keeping his mind occupied on other subjects as he looked at Isaac.

…

Finn looked over at Isaac knocking on the door with flowers in his hand and that strange look of madness. He didn’t knock he just seemed to be waiting for Finn to walk over and open the door for him. He looked at the front of the classroom, most of the class was distracted with the teacher showing an experiment at the front.

Finn stood up and walked back towards the door, sliding through the door Isaac backed up and smiled as the mechanical shark pulled him out. Looking back Finn wondered how much time it would be until they were completely ignored by the teacher. Most of the time it seemed the Outsiders had mostly free reign in the school. That seemed to be some sort of misuse of their own power.

Isaac handed Finn the flower and pulled the shark in, Finn was completely surprised as Isaac started to kiss him. Finn felt the spark and was drawn in and could only start to kiss back. Finn backed up; Isaac was never the one for affection or much of being a show off.

“Oh good, I had like three glasses of coffee on the way here and do you know how many Wawa’s are on the way here?” Isaac said as he looked at Finn, Finn backed up and realized that the shark might have discovered coffee.

“Three?” Finn said as Isaac pushed him back and slammed him against the other wall, he started to kiss him again and Finn could taste the coffee in his breath. Finn pushed him a bit forward and put his hand on Isaac’s back, he just needed to absorb some of the electricity in his system, slow him down.

He felt Isaac calm down and suddenly looking around, with Finn’s arms back against the wall and people looking at them, he realized what happened. Isaac’s face flashed with embarrassment as he backed up and both of their faces became flustered.  

“Well that happened, uh sorry about that.” Isaac said as he backed up knowing that he had gone a bit too far. At least in his mind, he looked at Finn who blushed as he walked forward again. Isaac rubbed the back of his head and felt himself slowing down as he calmed down.

“Ok, we need to make a public statement and we need to make one quickly. It’s all but a matter of time until the military decides to make one and based on what Iren told me happened yesterday, well then we need to act quickly and do something quickly as well.” Isaac said as he pulled the bag out, he had a nice suit on and for once he was wearing pants or at least that’s what his perception tiler made it look like. 

It was a professional looking suit, something that someone making public appearances would wear. It wasn’t tightened so much as with maybe a suit for prom or a dance, it was more lose and the suit didn’t tighten so quick, he hate a red tie that he tucked under a double breasted suit and under that a vest.

“Ok, I have you a suit as well and I’ve prepared some lines for you as well. You were the only one who saw Owlman that I trusted to be able to speak, so good on you. But as well you are trusted the most, and I got you a suit and some flowers well you know so that you’d come with me.” Isaac said as he flipped the bag over his shoulder and held out his grouping of flowers.

“Well then let’s go.” Finn said as he grabbed the flowers and pulled them up to his face, he sniffed them and they smelt wonderful. He smiled at Isaac and grabbed his hand. They walked forward as they walked towards the next destination.

…

Iren put her hand on her stomach; she felt a disturbance in the force. She felt like she was going to be sick, something didn’t feel right. Iren looked around; Michelle made her feel sick about the world. She stood up and activated her perception filter and turned invisible.

Walking out she watched as she saw Isaac and Finn kissing outside the room, she felt happy for them but turned and looked at Erick as he walked away from them, she followed him and turned off her perception filter. He seemed sad and depressed but still why was he?

“Erick are you alright?” Iren said as she stopped and Erick turned around, he smiled looking at the tiger. He stood for a second and put his hands on his hips as he looked back and behind her. Pausing for a moment he walked up to her and felt that she had the same investigative feeling as he did.

“I don’t know, but something doesn’t feel right. Everyone feels sad but nobody is showing it, it’s more like everyone is picking up on a tiny event and showing it off as well, I can feel it and things don’t go well when I feel like this.” Erick said, Iren knew it he felt worried and maybe he did have the right to be. At that time the school bells rang and then of course kids flooded out of the classrooms to go to last period.

Iren clicked on her perception field and made them invisible to everyone else as well, that way no one would notice them and they’d just walk around. And as such as kids approached them they walked around and didn’t even seem to take notice of them.

“Everyone here, everyone walking around us has the same feeling. Everyone around us they can all feel it as well. Let me ask you, do you think people just get sad because people die?” Erick said as he walked out, his powers just latched onto people’s feelings and they just transmitted to him and he just didn’t like it around these times. 

“People can get sad because of all sorts of things; like you said why else wouldn’t they be sad right now. You have to be on to something, you are an empath aren’t you and a good one as well.” Iren said smiling as she walked forward and people parted around them. Erick followed along his face turning sad as he felt the inherent sadness to everyone else.

“Well you know; how it goes. I think people get sad right before they feel that a large amount of deaths are coming on, I think that a large amounts of death are coming. Everyone feels death it’s a mortal perception to feel the immortal, and right now in these two weeks I think people will start to fall over like flies.” Erick said as he walked forward with Iren and they talked, it was nice getting to talk for once they didn’t get to often.

“It people are going to die, then we do the best we can to stop it.” Iren said as they walked forward.

…

As of course with Isaac he had somehow managed to set up a massive press conference simply through pulling a few strings. He managed to get a stage and a massive park by simple suggestion to the park board and he managed to get the equipment he needed by simply asking, of which the news station delivered to them, and he managed to invite the press in the town with a simple rumor.

And in the end it had worked, like magic at three o’clock that day a massive crowd of press had gathered in front of podium in the park. The wind carefully blew shaking the trees and flapping around the tent flaps. Isaac and Finn had managed to change and now it was time for show time.

“Well then it is time to start this are you sure you want to do this and go up? I can still go up for you.”  Finn asked as he adjusted Isaac’s tie and made sure that his perception filter was on that way the press would know who he was. Finn turned his perception filter on as well and Isaac walked forward stepping out of the tent and walking on stage.

Looking out the press started to take photos of him as he walked up the stairs and walked towards the podium. He took a breath of fresh air and knew in his mind the news had to be told about this story. He stood at the podium and looked out at the crowd of press that looked like they were ready to tear off his face; he took another breath and grabbed his papers.

“Hello, glad you could all join me today. Now we’re here to break a story today, and sadly it is not a good one; normally we rarely work with the press but this is simply a story that needs to get out.” Isaac said as he paused for a second letting the news reporters catch up and take more photos of him. He continued.

“Last night we responded to an incident at the Governor’s office and as it appears a new threat has decided to arise in our town. We believe that with in our city right now are nano-particles, which can transform your body.” Isaac said as he took a breath that was a headline maker right there, and he waited a few more seconds taking his breath and looking down at his notes.

“Testing on slabs of meat suggest that in low life forms like mice and birds the nano-bots can form a fully functional copy of the animal, but based on evidence from last light in larger beings such as humans they are unable to do  so and instead form mutants.” Isaac said as he gave all the information that the media would need, this would send them into a feeding frenzy. They’d start searching for information as well and they’d find Owlman on their own and maybe something else that he didn’t even know himself.

“Now then I’ll give the mic over to my friend Lighting Bolt and he will explain the incidents involving these nano-bots.” Isaac said as he stepped away from the microphone and stepped away, Finn stood at the tent flaps and waited for Isaac to step in. This was his moment and he wouldn’t throw it away.

“Good luck.” Isaac said patting him on the shoulder; Finn stepped forward out into the new world. He looked around and walked forward, people taking photographs of him and waiting for him to speak. He walked up to the podium and looked at all the people that had gathered, they were all waiting for him to speak.

“Hello, last night we sadly lost four interns at the Governor's office as they were transformed into a stage we are calling nano-mutants, we have reason to believe that this is not the first time that someone has been transformed. Possible disappearances with in the last month, strange acting animals, they all might be tied to these nano-bots.” Finn said seemingly throwing the press a bone and asking them to dig up the evidence on their own. He waited a second letting everyone take a photo of him as he waited long enough.

He took a breath and wondered if he might have gone to quickly, he looked down the list that Isaac had given him. It wasn’t much but at the bottom were the words, “NO OWLMAN!” Finn took another breath and realized that he used all his material too quickly he had nothing to speak on but Owlman, Owlman was the crux of his material.     

Finn tried to continue to speak but was unable to do so as the awkward silence between him and the press was becoming more and more pronounced. He looked at the list everything above was already stuff that Isaac talked about and the rest was just stuff he wasn’t present for. And then he talked.

“Yet the nanobots have a leader.” Finn said, he was doing well so far. And that seemed to throw a press for a loop. They took more photos of him and stood in silence even as the gasping from the crowd became pronounced. “Three nights ago we encountered a man who was seemingly covered in metal and have reason to place him as the leader of the nanobots.”

“This man had armor like a strange metal and his armor like an owl, he had the enhanced ability to fly yet did not have inherent superpowers, allowing him to get past our scanners, he has referred to himself as Owlman. And I personally like to talk to him right now.”  Finn said he was probably breaking some sort of Outsider rule reaching out through the media to challenge Owlman but this need to happen.

“We’re coming for you Owlman, we’re searching through the airwaves and internet and we’re going to find you somehow someway we will protect this city and we will make you fall.” Finn said as he realized that he was somewhere between screaming and firmly talking down to the press in front of him. Isaac quickly ran out and pulled him away from the stage.

“And that will bring this news conference to a close, enjoy your day.” Isaac said as he pulled Finn away from the podium before he could say anything stupider. The media took photos of them as Isaac pulled him away from the stage and back into the tent.

“What the hell? Did you even thinking; you blundering idiot?” Isaac said as he pulled Finn into the tent and placed him against the chair. He had anger on his face and Finn realized that he did something right. Finn stood up even as Isaac attempt to stand higher.

“Yes I was, the media needs to know about Owlman they need to know who and what we are dealing with, they are going to weed the city for him and in the pursuit of more searching getting accomplished I consider that a victory for all of us.” Finn said as he stood up and firmly spoke down to Isaac taking control of what he thought was right, he was going to let his opinion matter in this situation. 

“Yes but now they know there is an Owlman, they can say this is a war against two people you and Owlman. Not the nanobots against Carson City. If we wait until Owlman make a firm introduction then we can show a united front against him!” Isaac said trying to control his yelling, he ducked out of the tent and looked as the crowd of press started to leave. 

“Something tells me I’m not getting flowers more often now am I?” Finn asked as Isaac tried to put his hand down in this situation. Finn nearly crashed down as suddenly he felt gravity increase below him. Yet Finn stood brave and confident to Isaac as he wished for his idea to be warranted.

“No, you aren’t. You messed everything up, I had a plan I was going to reveal more information at a time, slowly feed them make sure they weren’t overstuffed.” Isaac said as he started to pace around trying to rethink his plans and see if he could rework what he was doing.

“And what if Owlman makes an appearance before then, what if the uncontrollable villain does something that directly interferes with said plan, you need to tell them everything, so they can be prepared!” Finn said standing up as he tried to fight for what he thought was the right side.

“Well I mean, still you need to have everything under control and you just sent a whole ball of uncontrollableness into the equation.” Isaac said, Finn stood back and tried to say he wasn’t convinced by Isaac’s face.

“Like that matters you have it always under control.”  Finn said as he just stroked Isaac’s ego knowing that would probably make him feel better. Finn and Isaac hugged and made up, they had better things to do then fight.

…

“So Michelle your boss he’s said somethings about us and we’re not sure where your loyalty lies.”  Finn said as he sat down on a chair. This was the aftermath, they had told the city about Owlman and now they needed to bunker down prepare for the storm and hope to fight it.

Michelle stood quiet in the center of the room, staying still as she listened to the accusations brought up against her.  Everyone had arrived, even Erick. Iren stood silent in the back corner of the room, shrouded in darkness. She must have been waiting trying to save herself for the last moment.

“We need you to choose a side, and no buts or ands about it; you are either loyal to the Outsiders or you are loyal to the military make your chose and choose wisely!” Isaac yelled as he walked into Michelle’s vision. Despite being yelled and possibly spat at she stood silent and waited. 

“Isaac!  Control yourself, this isn’t some black and white choice, we need Michelle as much as much as we need Finn on the team, she is our third offensive member.” Ross said as he stepped forward and decided to speak on Michelle’s behalf. Isaac smiled as he turned towards Ross.

“Ah, yes four offensive members and two defensive members, and let’s see how that is doing for you. The only thing you are is a punching bag, you just stand in our way and take the punches but you can’t throw them back.” Isaac said smiling with that look on his face, Finn groaned realizing Isaac was going to tear them apart.

“Oh really?” Ross said, he ran forward and he jumped forward. Mid-air he turned into metal and fell. Isaac screamed and put his hands forward. Ross was knocked through the air and landed on the other side. Finn groaned as he saw Ross nearly crush their data servers. Ross stood up and turned organic again.

 “Really look at you; you have no control of your powers. You poor thing, want to try that again and see if we can get you into space this time?” Isaac said laughing as he put his hands up in the air and they glowed for a second. Ross leaned against the server and walked forward giving up.

“Finn why do you let him act like such an ass, he threats you like your some sort of puppet and you never stand up for yourself just do something, just do something instead of letting Isaac take control aren’t you the leader?” Ross said as he sat down, Finn took a breath and stood up stretching out his hangs and adjusting his fins.

“Finn I assure you, I can be in complete control of this situation. Just let me handle this, I can do this.” Isaac said as Finn stood up and walked forward. He looked around at the group, they all looked sad with a glum look on their faces.

“I’m sorry Isaac but sit down I am the leader and my option stands.” Finn said as he took control and pushed Isaac down into his chair and looked at Michelle, she just stood “Now then if I say that the city should know about Owlman, the city should know about Owlman any problems with that?”

“Now then, Isaac you are our team scientist, instead of sitting down their being an asshole, go experiment!” Finn said as Isaac looked dumbfounded at Finn taking charge. He only stood up and walked over to the door and disappeared in it. “Now then Iren, Ross go do your stuff, or go on patrol, and Iren stop being Ross’s smother!”

Iren looked almost offended as she and Ross stood up and left the building through the front door. And with that Finn grabbed her chair and sat backwards in it rolling up to Michelle and summoning Erick over.  Both of them stood and looked at Iren and waited for her to talk. It became increasing clear that she wouldn’t without prodding.

 “Now then, this is how we should have always talked two on one, leader and the empath.”  Finn said as he spoke to Michelle, she looked hollow on the inside. Her eyes seemed to lead on forever into the void. He wondered where that void led to and what would happen in he followed it through, maybe he would have to.

“No, you’ve got nothing, okay. Well then let’s talk about you Michelle and what makes you, you. Your parent’s they invited me over yesterday and they wanted to know if you were too far deep into the military and while  I covered for you, now I’m wondering about it as well.” Finn said as he managed a reaction from Michelle in the form of a surprised look, she looked surprised on what Finn told her.

“Now then, how much of you just based on this military identity of yours?” Erick asked as he joined in he seemed to be focused on Michelle, feeling what she was feeling and trying to decode her feelings. Michelle still stood still like in her mind she was examining her own ideas and she didn’t know the answer herself.

“Well then, interesting. How much of you is based on this idea that you belong in the Military, but now the Military is taking offense to the Outsiders,  well you don’t know what to do or where to go.” Erick said as he started his hypothesis on the situation. Michelle glanced at him and Erick knew that he had cracked the edge and know he was making omelets.

“Is this true Michelle, no matter how stupid Iren asks, she cares, we care and we can talk.” Finn said as he extended an arm and tried to reach out and talk.  

“No, this is my burden I don’t need you to figure this out; I can do this on my own and just leave me alone for a while and I get you an answer.” Michelle said as she knocked away Finn’s hand and surprised him at her aggressiveness. He quickly rolled back and put his hands up.

Finn needed to approach her and her problem carefully, she was hostile. And he knew that if he overstepped his boundaries then he might end up with a few more holes in his body than Isaac would like. He took a breath and backed up; nodding at Erick they backed up from Michelle and waited a second.

“Take a breath Michelle; we don’t need to do anything stupid. We just want to help you and help you process this problem better. We just want to give you some advice on what to do.” Erick said as he rolled to the edge of the room and let Michelle have some breathing space, maybe she needed it. She just gave off an air of confusion but he couldn’t pinpoint the confusion without entering her mind and he didn’t want to do that.   

“You can tell us anything you want but we’re noting going to make you tell us anything but if you don’t  we can’t help you feel better.” Finn said das he tried to deliver a soft ultimatum, something that she could ponder on and hopefully open her up.

“Now then let’s just think about what’s happening and what’s going on; we can just take a second to breath about what’s happening and then we can just work out everything and then we can talk about this.” Finn said as he stood up and took a breath, he glanced at Erick who realized what he was doing and stood up as well. Both of them took breaths in and out and tried to calm Michelle.

“Now you don’t get it, you don’t understand what’s happening and maybe if you just left me alone than I would be able to figure it out on my own!” Michelle said as she stood up. Finn realized they were fighting a losing battle and backed  up  as he and the Komodo Dragon both backed  up.

Michelle put his hands up in the air and suddenly two guns appeared in her hands. She looked at them and smiled, Finn realized they might have been in a bit of trouble and maybe he went too far. She instead of putting her hand on the trigger turned her head and threw it.  

Finn ducked out the way as the gun flew over his head and he knew that Michelle didn’t want to fight. Yet as he took a breath and thought he might have gotten though, he heard the sound of something falling behind him. The mouse cage on the table fell over and crashed on the ground.

And then seemingly hell hit, all the alarms shot off and they all flashed red and they were alerted. The seemingly idle supercomputer started, all of its storage devices and its processes starting anew. Finn suddenly turned around, ignoring Michelle as he looked up at the supercomputer.

“The mouse escaped, it could infected more people!” Erick yelled, pointing towards the tiny animal as it squeezed under the garage door and escaped the perception filter laced building. Finn wondered for a second and knew that they had to follow the mouse.

“Isaac come on, we need to ride!” Finn yelled as he ran over to his motorbike and grabbed his helmet. Applying the padded half-sphere to his head, he watched as Isaac exited from the bunkers and looked ready for redemption. Reaching down he threw the second helmet over to Isaac.   

“Erick door, Michelle consider this your alone time; but I want you to seriously think about this!” Finn yelled as he started the bike and the motor under him rumbled. Above them the door rose from the ground up, as a chain pulled the slab of siding and wood up into the garage.

Finn revved his bike and drove out looking out and seeing the mouse.  He sped up and followed the mouse, the tiny creature lunged forward. Normally Finn might be able to follow a mouse on foot but no it seemed the nanobots were doing something, he was having trouble keeping up with the grey blur.

Following it down the street, he turned barely crashing into traffic as he aimlessly followed the mouse. And then he stopped, before him he couldn’t go any further into the city. Finn took off his helmet and felt his perception filter retroactively activate.  Throwing his helmet to the ground he looked at the mess in front of them.

“Well then Owlman; well played.” Finn yelled out looking at the massive mass of steel and smoke before him. No it wasn’t some sort of hybrid nano-creation instead a massive pile up and floating above it was Owlman who cooed at them as he floated forward and landed.

“You think that telling the city of my existence would make them safe, no my master wants me to strike and the best part is that he knows we can avoid capture. Through a simple flip of a button we can escape.” Owlman said as he smiled at the mass of death and bloody managed bodies behind him. He smiled carefully as he put his hands out and summoned a hologram.

“Be careful Outsiders; do not interfere in events of my plan.” A hooded man said as he seemingly formed in the palm of Owlman’s hand. Owlman shut his fist before Finn could discern more important details of the man. All he heard was a voice and it didn’t sound familiar.

“The people might know about you and they will be able to work together in order to defeat you, they know you and you no longer can walk through the streets.” Finn said confident as he put his hand on his motorcycle. He leaned on it as Owlman walked forward.

“Oh really? That easy, like it would ever be.” Owlman pulled back his cowl but before his true face was seemingly revealed. Instead suddenly his face shifted, it wasn’t like a perception filter instead It was like massive parts of his skin was being pulled around and more resources pulled to the skin.

He instead burned into a blue colored wolf, a seemingly bizarre and impossible hair color unless he had some really good hair dye that Erick and Barry would be jealous of. His face was different and Finn remembered his fur was grey before.

“A billion, billion faces all to my choice, even other species.” Owlman said as suddenly his fur shifted and turned into blue oily skin. Finn backed up as if shifted into his alter-ego’s face for a second. Owlman grabbed his face and screamed in pain as suddenly he was forced back to being a wolf, “The bugs are still being worked out.”

“Oh really, and what is your end goal here because if you are going to a massive mush factory than I think we could say hook line and sinker.” Finn said laughing as behind him he felt Isaac start to examine the area, he was focusing again and that was good.

“Oh trust me we’re going further than that let’s call this a base stage, and maybe soon then they might go further than that.” Owlman said as he reached down to the ground and put his hand out. Suddenly the rat appeared and climbed up Owlman’s arm before being absorbed at his elbow.

“Now then, consider this a warning…” Owlman might have finished his sentence if not for Isaac. Suddenly Owlman was knocked back into the pile of cars screaming as gravity pulled him there. Finn ran forward with the electricity he had gathered from him motorbike’s engine.         

Finn lunged forward as Owlman tried to stand up, he grabbed onto the nanoleader’s leg and started to shock him through a brief opening between leg armor and boot. Owlman shook for a second as he fell to the ground from electricity in his leg. Finn smiled as he fell to the ground and backed up watching Owlman react.

Isaac ran up to Owlman and suddenly he flew up into the air like he was flying; Isaac kept control as he kept Owlman firmly attached to the ground but pulled himself to a nearby wall and jumped off. Flying forward towards Owlman he reached out and knocked himself into Owlman. Both of them tumbled into the ground and they both landed.

“Consider this your warning Outsiders.” Owlman said as he kicked Isaac off his body, and suddenly he flew up into the sky as Finn was unable to stop him.

“Well then he is gone, but I think I might have redemption.” Isaac said as he held up a metal feather from Owlman. Finn didn’t know what that meant but he smiled at Isaac and gave him a kiss on the cheek as they hoped that they might unite against Owlman and the nanobots.