Selina moved closer. Very close. Her hand touched his chest plate. "You're interesting. More interesting than the Bat. He would have lectured me about the sanctity of law."
"I'm more concerned about the sanctity of not dying."
"Practical. I like that." Her hand moved up to his helmet. "What's under here? Who are you really?"
James caught her wrist gently. "Mystery is part of the appeal."
"For both of us." She stepped back. Pulled something from her belt. A small device that glowed with faint energy. "Managed to grab this before everything went boom. Figured you'd want it more than I would."
It was another Apokoliptian component. Similar to the one James had stolen but slightly different.
"Consider it a gift," Selina said. "For saving my life."
"You're giving up millions of dollars."
"I'm investing in a potentially useful relationship." She moved to the roof's edge. "Besides, I have a feeling you and I will cross paths again. When we do, I'll collect on that debt."
She winked. Then dove off the building, grappling away into the night.
James stood alone on the rooftop. Looked at the device she'd given him. Looked at the destruction in the distance.
This had gotten complicated.
Intergang had self-destructed their facility. That meant they knew someone was investigating. They'd go to ground. Become harder to track.
But James had two samples of their technology now. And evidence of a major operation. Plus unexpected contact with Catwoman that had ended better than expected.
He needed to update his plans. Share intelligence with Batman. Accelerate the timeline.
James checked the time. Still eight hours until his meeting with Batman. Enough time to run additional analysis on both devices.
He grappled back to his factory base. Set up both Apokoliptian components for simultaneous study.
"AEGIS, priority analysis. I need to know if these devices contain any tracking or communication capabilities. Intergang might be able to locate them."
"Acknowledged. Scanning for electromagnetic emissions, quantum entanglement signatures, and exotic particle traces."
While AEGIS worked, James documented everything that had happened. The warehouse. The weapons. The explosion. Catwoman's involvement. All of it needed to go into his report to Batman.
Three hours later, AEGIS provided results.
"Good news and bad news. Good news: devices contain no active tracking systems. They cannot be remotely located. Bad news: devices do contain encrypted data storage. Cannot access without risking data wipe. Recommend extreme caution."
Encrypted data. That could be valuable. Might contain information about Intergang's organization. Their suppliers. Their distribution networks.
But trying to crack New God encryption was risky. One wrong move and the data would be destroyed.
James made a decision. He'd attempt to copy the encrypted data before trying to access it. Create a backup. If the first attempt failed and wiped the device, he'd still have the copy to work with.
It took four hours of careful work. His enhanced intellect and AEGIS's computational power working in tandem. Finally, he had a complete byte-for-byte copy of the encrypted storage.
Safe to attempt decryption now.
James started the process. AEGIS running through billions of potential decryption keys per second. The encryption was sophisticated. Alien. But patterns existed in any code. Mathematics was universal.
Ninety minutes later, AEGIS found the key. The data unlocked.
James pulled up the files. Text documents in an alien language. AEGIS cross-referenced known Apokoliptian scripts and provided translations.
What he read made his blood run cold.
Intergang wasn't just selling weapons in Gotham. They were establishing a full network. Ten cities. Hundreds of distribution points. Thousands of weapons.
And the timeline had accelerated. Distribution was starting tomorrow night, not in two days. The attack on their warehouse had made them move faster.
"AEGIS, estimated scale of operation based on this data?"
"Catastrophic. If Intergang succeeds in full deployment, Earth's criminal organizations will have access to technology capable of threatening national militaries. Estimated casualties from unrestricted use: hundreds of thousands within first year."
This was worse than James had thought. Way worse.
He needed Batman. Needed to brief him immediately.
James grabbed the emergency communicator. "Priority alert. Need immediate meeting. Situation is critical."
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