"And that's what happened," Stacya said, finishing her report of previous events.
She had quickly gone through their surveillance of the Bolt and Firebreather meeting, Bolt's test, Bolt discovering them, Amazo showing up and his inevitable defeat, and ended it with their narrow escape.
The whole room silently listened to her tale, and now that it was over, the meeting could really begin. Paulina was taking notes. Ivy and Jake were listening as best they could, while Zack stared at the ceiling.
"Then after they got back, I called you all here," Milten added.
"Yes. I remember putting Amazo in your care. May I ask what happened to him?"
"I gave him to some of my staff. They'll return him to Super Island in a matter of days."
"Does his team know?" Jake asked.
"Yes, but I have a little surprise for them."
"If you pulled some shit, Milten, I swear..."
"Relax. It's just a harmless prank. A little something to say thanks for stealing our prey."
"Prey? God... you're disgusting."
Milten smiled and shrugged, enraging him even more.
"Why the hell did Bolt let you go?" Jake asked. "He said he was gonna use you as bait to trade something with Milten."
"He probably put a tracker on them," Ivy answered.
Paulina quickly raised her hand and spoke. "I already scanned them and they have no such thing. Seems they're clean."
As she finished, she noticed Zack shrug next to her. She knew he wanted to say something, and she hoped he wouldn't.
"Well, that's good, but the better question is what did he want to trade them for? Some kind of weapon?" Jake asked.
"Who's to say he's not just one of Milten's customers that's gone rogue?" Max said with a smirk, shocking everyone in the room, especially Jake and Milten.
"Okay, now we're just saying anything," Milten said, cutting him off.
"Hey, Max isn't wrong here. It's not out of the realm of possibility knowing you. Just saying," Jake said, lifting his arms defensively in a way that made Milten smirk.
"I have no dealings with Bolt, Jake. The guy's a psychopathic human supremacist, and the only ones crazy enough to work with him are freaks like the Broker and idiots like this Blaze fellow."
Jake shrugged.
"Anyway, what's the plan here?" Max started. "I hate to admit it, but he's out of our, and especially my, league. How can we hope to beat him?"
"Plus, just one of those suits allowed one of them to beat an All-Star. Imagine an army of them!" Stacya said.
"Yeah, and that's why we can't let them prepare. We strike tonight."
"So soon?" Jake said.
"Yes. Bolt is someone we can't underestimate. We can't let him rest or make a plan. This guy was a major threat for Captain Rocket back in his prime, and especially Canman. Even I've dealt with his antics on occasion. If we want even a chance of victory, we strike now, and we strike hard."
"Are you sure about that? Some of us are still recovering here," Jake said, looking at Zack. He expected Zack to look back or say something, but he was looking at the ceiling for some reason.
"Yes. We can't let this go any longer. Now I need you to suit up and..."
"Actually, I have something to add."
"Oh, really, Zack? Well, you've been awfully quiet lately, so go ahead," Milten said, allowing Zack to speak.
"I was a student of Rocket for years, and I can't look at you all and say this is a good idea."
"What?"
"I haven't seen Bolt fight. I haven't seen him move. But I know he fought Rocket to a standstill multiple times. He got involved in battles he had no business walking away from. We can't underestimate him. If we're doing this, we need to be smart about it."
"Then maybe we can trap him with what he wants?" Stacya suggested.
"That's not possible," Zack said, quickly shutting her down.
"What? Why? What does he want? He was willing to deal with Milten for it. Some kind of device? Weapon?"
"I..." Zack was about to continue but looked at Paulina. "...can't say."
He looked at her, and she looked back at him with a solemn smile.
She knew why he looked away from everyone; he was debating whether or not to reveal the truth. He decided against it. She knew he did, and he knew she was happy with that.
What he didn't know was that she wanted to do it herself, and her notes covered exactly that.
"Then what is it then? Any ideas? Clues? Leads?" Stacya asked him. Zack remained silent.
"Me," Paulina said, standing up.
"Why would he want you?" Jake asked nervously.
"Because he's my father."
Everyone stared at her for a moment. It was clear some couldn't believe what they heard.
The biggest look came from Stacya, no less. She was as close as Zack was to her, and she never knew that Dr. Bolt was her father.
"Your father? Elaborate," Milten ordered.
Zack looked at Paulina for a moment, his eyes apologizing for getting her into this. She looked back with a smile.
She was fine.
He replied to her gaze by smiling back.
"Years after the first Muman war, my father, Dr. Cornelius Bolt, still harbored his muman-hating beliefs. With the government not hunting mumans down and killing them anymore, he believed that responsibility fell on him. He made several super weapons to end muman-kind, but once he was ready to use them, especially a special virus to wipe out all mumans, he discovered something that shook him to his core."
"What was it?"
"He discovered I was a muman."
She stayed silent for a moment, allowing the information to linger. Not because of the group listening, but because of the memories that filled her head.
Zack knew this was the case, but what he didn't know were the exact memories she thought about.
Not of her father or her childhood, for she had none. It was her creation.
"I had the ability to create and manipulate beams of light. Horrified, he destroyed his weapons and cursed the heavens for such a cruel joke. In an act of spite, he turned me into a new weapon. His deadliest weapon. A cyborg," she continued.
While Jake and Ivy were sympathetic to her story, Stacya felt odd about the way she told it. While her voice was filled with emotion, her heart was not. There was an odd way she spoke that only she could see, like she was speaking in the third person even though it was the first.
Stacya tried to keep those thoughts tucked in her mind, but the longer Paulina spoke, the harder it became.
"Before he could unleash me, however, Captain Rocket attacked him, and after an intense battle, he was defeated. He then took me in and trained me to be a hero. Not long after, I joined the original Danger Squad, and the rest is history."
"Wait, so if Rocket beat him, how is he still a threat to us today?" Jake asked.
"He was taken to Mr. White's Cage but escaped shortly after. He then served a variety of criminals and terrorists around the world until he somehow found his way to the Broker. How a muman-hating bigot would side with a muman supremacist, I'll never know. What I do know is the Broker's dead, and he's formed a new alliance with the Dragon Clan."
"Yeah. That's where we are now," Milten chimed in. "And we can't let him go any longer. It's clear he's escaped the Super Society multiple times. If we capture him now, our rep will skyrocket."
"Is that all you care about?!" Jake shouted as he got off his chair.
"Got something to say, Jake?"
Jake opened his mouth to speak and closed it soon after. He knew no matter what he said or did, Milten wouldn't change. He'd just stare at him with that smile on his face. That smile that he wanted to rip off him every time he looked at him.
"N...no," Jake said, sitting back down.
"Good. Now I need y'all to get ready. This might be the biggest battle of our lives," Milten said, using a swift finger motion to tell them the meeting was over.
However, just as they got off their seats, Ivy raised her hand.
"Ah, Ivy? Got something to say?"
"Yeah. I do. We need a break."
"Now? We're going on the biggest mission of our lives and now you need a..."
"Not now! I mean after the mission. We've all got some issues we need to resolve, but we barely even talk to each other. We live in this big-ass tower but barely interact. I suggest we hang out somewhere and just... talk."
"That's not a bad idea," Max said, causing everyone to stare. "What? She's right. I barely know any of you, and spending some time with Stacya made me realize that maybe I should."
Jake looked into Max's eyes for a moment. Despite how cold and monstrous they looked, he could see some truth in them. He looked at Stacya to see she was looking at the floor and blushing.
"Max is right. We all need a break. You all think I'm some maniacal businessman, but that's not true at all," Milten said.
They all quickly gave him a look.
"Okay, it's kinda true, but that's not all I am. I'm like an onion. I got layers."
Stacya giggled while everyone else shrugged.
"See? I'm hip! I'm cool! I watch movies! I have a life. Maybe this hangout thing will let you all see that."
"What do you think, Zack?" Paulina asked with a smile.
"Well, Ivy's right. This team barely feels like a team at all. It's time we got to know each other. We lost Luthor not long ago. We need to remember that. Any of us can go at any time. A few moments of rest to catch up are exactly what we need."
"I couldn't agree more," Paulina replied.
"Then it's decided. For our hangout, the team will go on a picnic at the park. Sounds good to you all?" Milten asked them, and they responded with nods.
"I would love to pick a nick! I've seen humans do it for so long, I can't believe I actually get to..."
"Hey now, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Jake said, interrupting Stacya's childish rant. "We don't even know if we're gonna make it out of this."
"C'mon, Jake. We beat the Kobra Klan! Dao D! The Broker! Galan! We've clearly gotten stronger since then. This won't be like Mr. E," Zack said with a confidence Jake couldn't believe was coming from him, especially since he suffered a crushing defeat not long ago.
"Zack, I don't know if..."
"Sir, sir!" Surge shouted as he suddenly started vibrating. He had been completely silent throughout the whole meeting. Milten knew him speaking out so randomly would be anything but good.
"What is it, Surge?" Milten asked him and ran to his side.
"Our men have just informed me that someone just hacked into one of our satellites!" Surge said, his vibrations intensifying by the second.
"What?! Not even Bump is aware of those things! How... wait... is this the one with the..."
"Orbital laser? Yes, sir."
"I'm sorry, orbital what?" Jake asked as Ivy quickly held his hand.
"We need to evacuate the building. Now!"
"What's going on?" Zack asked as Paulina held him close.
Stacya tried to do the same with Max, but he was staring at the ceiling the same way Zack was. Suddenly he spoke...
"Bolt is making his move. We have to..."
And at that exact moment, a blinding white light consumed them all....
To be continued...