Brave and the Bold: Vanguard

The Martian What? Rhode has never heard of such a thing. Probably as much as no one on land really knew who Calculha was. The fact he shapeshifted in front of her made Rhode's legs tense as they grounded themselves to the floor. Still, still she was familiar with the name "Justice League" as her king took apart of it. Assessing that he truly means no harm, Rhode was ready to listen to what he had to say, but her wall of defense never let down. "What are you talking about?" She interrogated. His calmness, this neutral attitude, was glowing red exit signs, a subconscious alarm going off. Her gut instincts told her something was wrong.

"Why do you need both of us? I barely know that guy." Rhode aimed at Zero, them quickly shifting her attention back to The Manhunter. She didn't know what LEXCORP was, nor did she see any of her connection in this. Her involvement seemed irrelevant as far as she was concerned.

---

"Dr. Fate, that's his name." Hal snapped his fingers, his face almost literally lighting up as he pointed at the Flash. "You really don't need to learn any of the controls. You can just leave all that to Batman. He's going to get your hands, voice, and fingerprints scanned so the computer recognizes you. Don't worry. It's mostly painless. It's not like the eye-poke machine. Haven't had to use that ever since Zatanna joined us." Hal rambled on, he figured she either liked the sound of his voice or she was just really interested in all the technology and history she was experiencing so quickly.

They walked down hallway after hallway, entering elevators and being taken into different rooms that showcased the Justice League's prestige. Of course there was the occasion question. "Right now, we like to keep eight on Earth and eight on the Watchtower. We make different shifts so all the members get to work with all the members, that is unless we need to tailor a mission to a particular member's powers. For example, if a damn broke, Superman, Flash, Aquaman, and myself would work to fix it, while a murder mystery could be solved by Batman, Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, and myself could work that out. And if we would need basic firepower, a good team would be Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and myself. But of course, that's all up to the board that assigns jobs. Right now the only other members on board is Black Canary, Green Arrow, Cyborg, and Hawk Girl."

She must really like to hear him talk.

---

"Let me make something painfully clear; you don't have my allegiance, but sign me up, and don't waste a second of my time." Floyd abruptly spat out, "I find anything fishy in this arrangement, you're the next head on my hitlist." He strutted to a mirror on the opposite side of the wall and glared into his own eyes as if he were looking at Calculator. "Now, why does Lex Luthor want these people dead?"

A skeleton in a rather dapper suit; if he did say so himself, took a short drag on a long cigar. His gloved hand tap-tap tapped across the keyboard in front of him.

“Please Verify Identity.” The terminal chirped back at him. He rolled his eyes, not that anyone could tell.

“Director Bones of the Department of Extranormal Operations. Security Identification code… Hang on.” He pulled the scrap of paper from his breast pocket. “Eight-Five-Tango-Delta-Seven. Authorization through the Department of Extranormal Operations; United States Government-Secret Division.” He took another drag on his cigar; these things were always such a hassle, other people just had retinal scanners, or fingerprint scanners, or… things that could be scanned.

“Identify Verified. Director Bones; Department of Extranormal Operations connecting to Watchtower communications, Authorization; United States Government.”


“Is all that really necessary? I feel like I just told you half that.” Smoke clouded around his skull as he spoke.

The skeleton-man took another drag on his cigar while waiting to be connected.

---

Bones took another short drag on his cigar before tapping it against the ash tray just out of sight. He reached a gloved hand up and straightened the video camera; focusing it on his face, or at least his skull, before speaking. “First off; lemme preface this by sayin’ that I normally wouldn’t be comin’ to you guys.” It looked like he was on a personal computer. “My superiors don’t trust you, and frankly I can’t blame them; but you do good work, and I’m short on man power.”

He returned his cigar to his teeth, taking a short drag on the Cuban tobacco. “I got a cluster of disappearances in eastern Washington and I don’t have anyone to look into ‘em.” The bony man shrugged softly. “I know this ain’t the sort of thing you cape ‘n’ underwear types normally look into; but hear me out.” He licked his lips, not that anyone could tell, and tucked the cigar between his teeth. “Nine folk all disappeared from rural areas; three campers, two honey mooners, a family of four all gone poof in the same general area. Dense forest; can’t get any good scans from our satellites, thermal or otherwise.” He took another drag on his cigar, and shifted it to the other side of his mouth without using his hands.

“I’ve tapped the local P.D. an’… simply put they’re clueless. So they’re following the playbook; Park Rangers are searchin’ the woods around where the campers were last seen. The love birds… well no one’s really sure they’re missing yet; course, no one ‘s seen ‘em in a week either.” The Director shrugged again, splaying his gloved hands for the camera. “The family was road-tripping; Mom, dad, couple of kids; whole wholesome deal. Their R.V. was found split open like a can ‘o hash. Locals say bear; me, well, I’m paid to think outside the box.” He smirked; not that anyone could tell.

“I could tell you a half-dozen things not for public consumption that coulda cut into an R.V. like that, frankly they’re made out o’ foil.” He took the cigar from his teeth. “An’ I could give you another dozen things lookin’ for people who ain’t payin’ attention.” Bones set his cigar in the tray just off screen. “But fact of the matter is my boys are out doin’ you-don’t-need-to-know-what, and Americans are getting’ got by something. I’ll owe you lot a solid if you could spare me some bodies to come check it out; preferably ones wearing less than two primary colors, but hey beggars can’t be choosers.”

Eye-poke machine?


Andy gave an incredulous look at Hal before shaking her head and chalking it up to a Non-Amazonian thing. Something; she was certain, she would be using to explain many things she didn't understand about the world outside of Themyscara.


As for hearing him talk, the baritone lilt of his voice was interesting enough but Andy was particularly keen on understanding the space station. In order to grow into an active (and functioning) member of this 'team' she wanted to learn everything.


The leggy Amazonian strode alongside Hal with growing confidence, she had never been frightened but the initial newness of everything had made her overtly cautious and wary. Now; looking upon the radiant youth, one might not have ever used 'cautious' to describe her.


Bright, intelligent eyes absorbed every detail around her, all the while she absorbed the information Hal delved out to her.


It was a smart tactic, only using whoever was needed and never needlessly throwing a asset at a situation merely because they were the strongest.


Andy found herself eager to prove herself so that her own name could be added to the roster. " Are they in dispose? Is it possible to meet those who are present aboard this ship?"


The brunette gave a snarky grin as she slid her gaze over to cast a meaningful look at the Green Lantern.


" Not that your company is unwelcome Hal Jordan, but I am interested in this team. I don't often get a chance to meet new people. As I am sure you are aware."

The control center displayed multiple screens in the center a large 80" monitor with information scattered across it, primitive to the Batcave so far. Batman was planning updates to the Watchtower as soon as a business arrangement back home went through. And it was going to happen. The Justice League was still going through the early stages of development. A screen to the Dark Knight's left lit up. He tapped on the screen accepting the outbound call from the DEO.

"Bones." He said as if he was expecting him. "To what does the Justice League owe your attention?"

---

Hal had his fists resting on his hips, as if he was unsure where to put them, yet confident in his stature.

"I'm sure we can find someone on board. It's really big up here and everyone is spread about. And of course outside is nothing but dead space. But don't worry, as soon as we get your fingerprints scanned and everything, you'll be registered to the roster. Otherwise that pretty much wraps up the Watchtower for you. At least the parts you'll be using most."

Hal began to float back up as he peered down with his ring, using it as x-ray to see who was closest to them. "If you want to meet other members we can see if Cyborg isn't doing anything." He said, "Even if he is we could still bother him. Come on!"

---

"I've got some muscle I can lend to you, Bones. Consider it done. We'll work on numbers after everyone is accounted for. Justice League out." Batman cut the connection promptly, and dialed in Green Lantern.

---

Hal stopped in mid track as his communicator went off. "Hold on, I have to take this." He said landing on the ground again and flipping open the ringing device. "Lantern speaking."

"Hal, I've got an assignment for your small group. Meet me at the loading bay." Batman ordered then again clicking out before anyone had a say. Flash just beamed at the two; "Race ya." He smiled before zooming off.

“Th-…-anks.” Bones paused mid word as the Batman hung up on him. “Huh… no love lost there.” He muttered to himself taking a longer drag on his cigar, vaguely wondering if he was going to be called back; though encase not, he pulled up a satellite view of the area and kept a look out for any hot spots of Zeta activity. It was mostly trees, maybe a few rocks.

Andy was all too happy to tag along after Hal and Flash, nodding in understanding as Hal continued his tour. As long as there was no eye-poke machine the Amazonian was fine with going through whatever was necessary for her to become an active member of the League.

When the Green Lantern paused to answer his strange device, the brunette merely nodded and turned to observe the Scarlet Speedster.

Andy hadn't really spoken to him yet; not really anyway, the notion made we feel rude. She opened her mouth to ask Flash a question when the stern baritone of Batman whispered out of the communicator Hal held.

Once again, Andy felt culture shock. "What strange magics." She'd heard small fragment about the machines of mankind. But to see it was something wholly different.


And just like that, the red clad hero was gone, leaving a flustered Amazonian to stare at the spot he once occupied. Andy looked over to Hal and let out an exasperated sigh. " By Hera, he is fast"


With a tilt of her head she took a step closer to the ex-pilot and offered up a small grin. "Duty calls; Hal Jordan, best not to keep it waiting. Yes?" She nudged his bicep with her elbow, attempting to coax him into motion so that she could follow after him.

"Too fast for his own good." Hal commented to himself. "But yeah, just get use to him. You're going to have to get use to a lot of things."

Hal smirked at her, in the back of his mind he didn't feel Andy could follow him; how fast was she on her feet. The nudge was admittedly stronger than he anticipated. If she didn't know her own strength, he definitely didn't know her limit. If there was one thing Hal knew, it was to never underestimate anyone. That didn't stop him of course.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go!" Hal said lifting from the ground and taking off in the Scarlet Speedster's direction.

Director Bones took a short drag on his cigar, blowing the smoke over his teeth to cloud it around his head while he stared at the disconnected call icon on his screen. He took another, longer drag on his cigar before looking up; he even leaned back in his chair and turned as he spoke. It was sometimes hard for people to tell if he was talking to them, he couldn’t make eye contact after all. “So, any theories on what we’re after, rookie?” He punctuated his question with a smoke ring, just because his lips weren’t visible didn’t mean they weren’t there.

Seeing the man fly was still a bit of a marvel for the Amazonian, but that didn't distract her from the task at hand.



Andy ran after Hal, keeping a decent pace as she was only behind by several steps. Endurance she had, though she could not match the Speedster. Hal had no real need to fret about her keeping up.


-----------

"Many, Herr Direktor"



The thick accent was spoken with moderation, quiet, firm and all together aggressive. Typical German.


"My first deduction vould be brigands"


Pallid feature tightened in disgust at the sweet cigar smoke that wafted about the liking skeletons head. It was a habit the individual found great disdain for an surmised that Bones probably knew it.


"But, devils have many agents. Vhat have you deduced? Herr Direktor?" The armored figure took a step back, seemingly keeping a distance from the computer the man had just been using. It seemed that smoking wasn't the only modern thing that irritate the Rookie.


"Mayhaps you know of any--- Vhat did you call them? Super Criminals--ja--- that could be abducting these unsuspecting travelers?"

Director Bones took a short drag on his cigar as he sat back in his chair, the springs creaking slightly under his weight. “I considered that.” He muttered lightly. “If it was just one guy, or even a single family; then I would leave it to the league-ie-weegies to figure out who’s after who and stop ‘em.” He took another drag on his cigar, leaning back forward as he tapped at the laptop, opening a game of solitaire while he waited to be called back.

“The costumed-sort are more about money or revenge; or sometimes both.” He was speaking from experiences. “Not a lot of them are into rampant destruction, and those that are could do a slight bit more than disappear a few folk from a north-western back wood.” He moved a few digital cards into place and tapped his cigar against his ashtray before returning it to his lips.

[Ah! Sorry guys, I know I've been absent lately, I’ll work on it! Promise promise!!!]

Calculator lounged a little more comfortably in his chair, drumming his fingers together confidently. Ah, the joys of having a plan fall together ever so nicely. 'Twas a thing of beauty, in his eyes. He was hardly threatened by Floyd's statement- he had a list of people probably a mile long that would love to get their paws on him, so he was hardly a foreigner to having people give him that kind of ultimatum. He turned his attention back to Deadshot. "Floyd, m'boy, are you REALLY sure you want to know all about Lex's dirty laundry? Besides, I think we both know Lex's little forte`- that whole 'making costumed characters obsolete' spiel. His recent little lab rats got out, and, well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest." He relayed. He figured Deadshot had been in the business long enough to be able to fill in some of those blanks. "I've taken the liberty of sending all of the locational data and bio of your targets to your personal email address check it when you can. And clean out your spam folder because goddam!" He further explained, eagerly awaiting the next question, or the abrupt hang-up, that he was sure was coming...

The Martian Manhunter straightened up and looked at Rhode with a solid face. "I know this probably a lot to absorb- for both of you." He stated evenly. "And I will understand if you do not want to be involved past this point." He furthered, this time to Rhodes in particular. "But there are merely two points I would like to make to you; one, I cannot say for certain that whatever forces are tracking your friend here haven't already began to turn their gaze at you." he warned, not threateningly but as-a-matter-of-fact-ly. "And two... I have a feeling you won't want to overlook the opportunity to tackle something as big as I feel I've uncovered." He explained, his voice a little less edgy now. If his experiences with Aquaman had taught MM anything, it was that Atleanteans had a knack for wanting to tackle the big problems...

As Green Lantern and Andromadeia caught up with Flash and Batman, in the ship's transportation deck, the Scarlet Speedster was zipping about, checking the pads. Despite his playful demeanor, he was a genius with just as quick a mind as a body. Batman worked coordinates on the system when they arrived.

"So what's going on Bats?" Green Lantern inquired.

"Missing people. I figure with your ring they won't be hard to track down, coupled with The Flash, we should be fine. I suggest you give Director Bones a call for more details. Otherwise, get on the transport pads."

"Alright, c'mon Andy." Hal said motioning her toward the glowing blue pads.

"Whoa there, buddy." Flash said zooming in front of them. "I don't think it's smart to bring her in on this one."

"He's right." Batman nodded, "I'm having Aquaman meet you in case you need some muscle. Andromadeia should get acclimated with the outside world first."

"Sorry, rook." Green Lantern turned to Andy. "Maybe next time." He and Flash stood over to the bright glowing pad, "Beam me down, Scotty!" Green Lantern beamed at Batman, who only responded by hitting the big red button.

---

Rhode shrunk back, looked at Zero who was being oddly quiet as if he knew something. Rhode shook her head, "No, no, I'm sorry. But no." Rhode said defiantly, grabbing Zero's arm. "I'm leaving with him, and you're not following us. Understand?" Rhode was now backing over to the door that was sealed shut by a chrome push lock. "I'm tired of every time I set foot on land, trouble just falls into my lap. No. I'm not scared of anyone. Not you, nor any threats you claim we have."

Rhode unlocked the door and kicked it open slightly using the back of her foot. "C'mon Zero. Let's go." She said tugging on his arm.

---

A twist in Floyd's stomach told him he'd have to find and eliminate the test subjects. Well, shit. That was no fun. Why couldn't it just be some political figure? They never suspected they would get assassinated—on the contrary, maybe they do—but the look on everyone else's face when the bullet passes through their skull was always a satisfying sense of accomplishment. You never got that with test subjects. They were always nobody so nobody would miss them and even if they did have nobody families, they were probably better off without them.

"I'll give it a look." He said taking his phone away from his face and disconnecting the call, only to open up his emails.

He sighed in amusement as he scrolled through names and locations. The closest one was half a country away in Coast City.

Zero was hardly in a position to put up much of a fight as Rhode led him away. He doubted that- what was his name- Martian something or other was a bad guy, but he trusted Rhode's instincts better than his own. Besides, as Rhode led him away, he looked back only to see that the green man was completely gone...

...Only to re- appear on a rooftop across town. And he wasn't alone- next to him was one Red Robin, aka Timothy Drake. "So, how didja' do?" He asked curiously. J'onn crossed his arms as he stared blankly out at the city. "I fear I might have been too direct." He explained plainly, removing an earpiece from himself and dropping it into Drake's waiting hand. Tim Drake had been his main source of help from the get- go, a constant link to Oracle, Batman, and their resources. And while J'onn had few equals when fighting giant monsters, inter dimensional boogeymen and other ner- do- ells of the cosmos, Tim had a little more experience handling those.... more delicate topics then he did. "Oh well, ya' can't save them all, Hasslehoff." Tim joked, but MM seemed unamused, as usual. Tim stuffed the earpiece into a pouch on his utility belt as he stretched his arms. "Looks like it's my turn." He stated. "What do y-" He turned to J'onn to ask him something, but he was gone again. "Never get used to that..." He muttered.

Zero allowed himself to be led away by Rhode for quite some time before he allowed himself to speak. "So, uhm, not to, er, be a pain but... what do we do now?" He asked, unsure of what would happen next. Hey, it was his first day that he could recall that.... well, anything had happened. So at this point, an elephant could run him over and he wouldn't be surprised....

Tipped hat, leaning over the rails on a highway in the desert, overlooking the sunrise paint the Arizona sky. His duster began massaging the ground as light wind shot back and forth around the cowboy. He flicked the roll up cigarette he had been sipping on for the last four minutes into the canyon he was observing so vigilantly. Maybe in another universe he was the Batman, maybe Two-Face, maybe he lived a normal life, though the thoughts going through Josiah Redwood's mind about the multi-verse seemed more relevant than they actually were. But he couldn't help but think that somewhere out there, his wife was still alive.

Maybe he had a couple of kids, Benford would probably be the same lovable labrador, in a perfect world at least. One must out there somewhere. Josiah left his post and threw a leg over his motorcycle: a matte black Shadow, the slits in his eyes darted across the landscape before revving his engine and taking off.

---

Being constantly materialize was one thing, seeing a new background thrusted into your face was another. There was always an unsettling feeling that bubbles in Hal's stomach. Looking up from the grass underneath his feet, he saw Arthur with his arms crossed looking at him in discontent.

"You dragged me out of bed for this? What are we even doing here?"

Hal waved Aquaman off, "Hey, back off Fish Boy. I didn't send us here. The Bat told me to contact the DEO, so hold your horses."

The Lantern balled up his ringed fist and held it to his mouth, "Ring, give Director Bones a call."

The Flash zipped between the two to get closer to Hal's ring.

"Put it on speaker." He beamed.

---

Three days after Deadshot's conversation with Calculator, he found himself in stalker mode, for some reason, his target was being accompanied by what appeared to be a mermaid. Not that he minded, but if she was Atlantian, he may have a problem if he had to deal with her super-strength. He had to take her out first. Atop a Coast City building, the strong gusts of wind added an exciting challenge to his pay-plan. The .50 caliber round, rested in chamber of the M82 sniper rifle Deadshot had his eyes down the electronically powered telescopic scope. Slowly following the redhead that exited a clothing department, dragging his target with her.

---

"I don't know."

Rhode's stride's became faster and longer. Not looking back if the Martian was following them.

"Get away from them first."

Her head was hurting, too much going on in her mind. Rhode's eye felt like they were going to pop out of her skull.

"I've dealt with those people before. Justice League or Birds of Prey, they're just no good."

She stopped for a second and turned to Zero. She looked around and let go of his hand. "You want something to eat? I'm hungry."

Andy felt a bit discontent with the decisions made around her but agreed. They didn’t need her and she had so many things to learn. She took her leave of Batman, despite him being familiar she wasn’t exactly comfortable in his presence. At least being alone in his presence.

Andy bowed her head to the Gotham Crusader before moving off to one of the various hallways. Mainly the one her and Hal Jordan had traversed to get to where they had been. She would go around, investigate wherever she could and try to stay out of the way.

For now at least.

-----
Osterna frowned at Bones. She still had much to learn about this strange new Western world, and it seemed her current commandant wasn’t keen on making that process easy for her. “If it iz not one of these masked criminals vhat else could it be? Perhaps it is a civilian? Iz there any occult history around this location? Perhaps this is cult work?”

The knight rested her hand on the pommel at her hip, shifting her weight as she eyed the square device he had used to communicate with. It still made the hairs on her arms stand on end, but surely it was a convenient method of sending messages. Much easier than sending a courier or traveling for days to deliver a message. “I can offer you no real advice, Direktor. I can only offer my service”

Director Bones took a long drag on his cigar, leaning back in his chair to put his bad foot up on the edge of his desk, tilting himself to one side. “Well, in my experience; an’ this is coming from bein’ on both sides of the bar, the villain lot tend to be after one or more o’ what I like to call the three A’s.” He held his cigar to his mouth, sucking on it once more before removing it and exhaling a large plume of smoke. “Artifacts; something specific they want for something specific, could be an ancient relic or some new fangiled science doodle, it doesn’t really matter as long as they’ve quote-unquote ‘Got plans’ for it.” He smirked a little, not that anyone could tell, and restored his cigar to between his teeth.

“Two, Armaments.” He held two fingers up with his right hand, his left tucked behind his head as he reclined a little further. “Guns, bombs, stuff that kills people; sometimes they want it for personal use sometimes they’re gonna sell it or ‘take over the world’ either way it’s not really our business.” He raised a third finger and gestured lightly. “An’ three, Assholes; someone specific who did something specific that pissed them off, sometimes this is kinda’ one-sided in which case I might go ahead and call it ‘asshole-er-ry.’ In my experience either whomever they’re pissed off at deserve it anyway, or the costume guy is a grade A nutcase an’ he’s the asshole.” The director put his other foot up crossing it over the first and tucking both his hands behind his head. “Maybe someone wanted something to do with some of the folk what’re missing, but we’ve got campers, lovebirds an’ the worst family road-trip ever; maybe if it were personal then we wouldn’t have such a scatter point of victims.”

Director Bones leaned forward, reaching a hand forward and manually moving his bad leg down from atop the desk. “Nawh, I figure this is more our kinda work. A cult isn’t a bad guess, an’ incidentally one of my three C’s. Cults, Carnage and Chaos.” The skeleton man snickered softly before taking another drag on his cigar, this time exhaling through his none-visible nostrils. He paused for a moment before deciding to continue with the little lesson he had begun. “Like the three A’s the three C’s are the three things critters want from the world; and by critters I mean thinks we hunt down and kill with extreme prejudice.” He did enjoy his job, even thinking about it put a smile on his face, not that anyone could tell.

“Cults, as you mentioned; some critters, generally your more intelligent ones, want people to either join them or worship them, or both. It can also be Cliques or Covens depending on your critter but you get the idea. Chaos is probably the most dangerous of the creepy crawlies. These are your banshees or wights or… pretty much any of your undead. They’re just out to kill stuff. Sometimes specific stuff, most of the time whatever they come across.” The suit-wearing skeleton gave a slight shrug. “You’ve probably met some. The third is the one I’m wagering on, Carnage. These are generally less intelligent critters, more animal than not. They don’t really care what they’re eating as long as they eat it, Chupacabra-they may have a thing for goats but as long as it’s warm blooded they’ll eat it. Ogres too, a little more intelligent maybe… depending on your ogre, but they’re not big on diplomacy… Big on eating though.” Bones drew in on his cigar hard enough to make the little coals on the end light up, and then gave a great sigh blowing the smoke out up toward the roof before leaning forward and tapping the ash off.

“The thing that’s botherin’ me-” He put his cigar back in his teeth. “The thing that’s bothering me is that if it’s just somethin’ out eatin’ folk, why ain’t we finding more leftovers?” The Director stood up from his chair, crossing one arm behind his back while the other hand held his cigar out beside his hip. “Werewolves generally go for the heart, ogres like the meaty bits… even Worgs leave gnawed on bones behind… Maybe it’s a manticore, but we should be way too far west for that, not to mention it’s fuckin’ cold up here… I’ve never heard of a manticore outside the Mediterranean, but if they were gonna travel you’d think they’d stick to the warmer climates…”

---

Director Bone’s computer beeped and the eloquent skeleton man turned back to look at it. He restored his cigar to between his teeth and dropped himself back down in his chair. He shifted his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other with his tongue; not that anyone could tell, and flipped open his laptop.

“Call from Green Lantern Ring Number Two-Eight-One-Four-Point-One.” His little box cheeped.

“One of these days I’m gonna ask what drives the caller I.D. on this thing…” Bones muttered to himself, shifting his cigar back to the right side of his mouth before hitting ‘enter’ and accepting the call.

“Damn. That’s a lot of green for white guy.”


OOC: Sorry 'bout that Van, didn't see the bit of your post what had them beamin' down.

"That's a lot of bone for a transparent guy." The Guardian shot back as his image hovered above his ring. This was the first time Aquaman had actually seen Mr. Bones, it was strange for him, but being with the League, he had to prepare himself for all sorts of interesting encounters. After all, he has a martian on his speed dial.

"So this one slipped past Jason and the Argonauts?" Flash asked crossing his arms.

Green Lantern giggled like an idiot and fist bumped Flash as to say "good one." Aquaman rolled his eyes at the immaturity being projected from his team.

"Can we get down to business? Please?"

"Alright, alright. Batman told us to give you a call to find out more about this case we're on. Can you fill us in on any details?"

Green Lantern inquired, fist held in front of him, projecting the image of Mr. Bones' camera.

OOC: All good. A lot is going on

“Super funny.” Bones took another drag on his cigar, exhaling it toward his laptop; just so that the smoke would cloud around him. He liked the way it made him look. “Look, why don’t we have this conversation face to face?” He chose to leave the lack of his actual ‘face’ unmentioned. “I’m at Ranger Station H13, just follow the trail. I got Lead Ranger Goodvibes here—”

“Uh, Goodfellow, Sir. Ranger Goodfellow.” He was not much of a man, maybe six foot two, short brown hair, brown eyes, a little more sideburns than your average man, but not enough to be odd.

Director Bones rolled his eyes, not that anyone could tell. “Anyway, I’m here, he’s here, so get here, eh?”

"We'll be right over, Green Lantern out." The bright green light absorbed back into Hal's ring, and the glow that surrounded them faded away.

"Alright, Lantern. Just lead the way." Aquaman crossed his arms, giving a cross look to the emerald guardian.

"My pleasure. It's right down here. Not too far."

Hal lit the way leading to the ranger station, the small group then pursued the green trail.

"Oh, I should have said 'Face to skull'." Flash snapped

"Fastest man alive, and you're still too slow to come up with a good comeback."

Bones' train of thought was hard for Osterna to follow; mostly because she had to translate it to German inside her head, but once she got it she nodded. His categorizing made sense, and she committed it to memory to utilize later. The modern world was strange and she needed all the mental tools she could get to make the adjustment easier.



At his spoken thought, Osterna shook her head and leaned back on her heels.


"There is more then just manticore that spirit away travelers, Herr Direktor. Some beasts eat things whole, or hide them in dank holes for safe keeping. Cultists that I know of would often use every part of their victims. Cannibals. Demonic sacrifice. Sacrilegious heathens that should be purge from the world"


Osterna' voice rose as she went before she calmed her 'hell-fire' mentality and cocked her head to the side as the communication device beeped and he opened it up. At this; Osterna took a step closer to the ranger, not hiding that she didn't feel comfortable with the technology.


The Teutonic knight remind silent for Bones' talk with the Leaguers, though throughout the conversation her scowl became more pronounced till her nose was crinkled and her teeth were gritted hard enough for the grinding of them to become audible.


"Herr...Direktor" the warning tone in her voice was blatant, her arms unfolding as she stepped into the mans space. Hand on his shoulder as she leaned over and pushed the laptop shut. "You said you were acquiring back up yes? These fools seem hardly mentally competent enough to find a wolf in a herd of sheep. Let alone several people in a forest. Their petulance is---" Osterna had to think hard on the word she was looking for before she growled and rolled her eyes " Disheartening."

"Hold it right there." The Dark Knight's voice sounded through the now empty and quiet room that floated through the vacuum of space. Stepping down from his sleek podium, it seemed as if he glided across the floor towards the young amazonian

"I'm going to add you into the system so the computer recognizes you. A simple finger print and retinal scan, along with a voice recognition." Batman said walking past her, expecting her to follow him.

“Down girl.” Director Bones took another drag on his cigar, leaning back in his seat and letting the smoke leak out past his teeth as he settled in to wait for the pajama party to make their way to him. He took another drag on his cigar before speaking up again. “We’re short staffed, beggars can’t be choosers. If I was being choosy I don’t think either you or Ranger Smith would be here.” He nodded his cigar toward the ranger.

“It’s Ranger Goodfellow, sir.” For his part, the ranger didn’t seem to mind being second string. “And, though I’m not really sure what your, uhm, specialty, is; the worst we’ve gotten up here is some teenagers messing around in the woods. Getting drunk, lighting fires, smoking, usual kid stuff… I don’t think we’ve ever had a problem with cannibalism…” He added, bashfully looking to Osterna. The woman obviously intimidated him. “A couple years back we had to relocate a bear that kept poking around the campsites.” He was obviously out of his element.

Bones took another drag on his cigar before blowing the smoke up toward the rafters of the ranger station. “Can’t be cannibals.” He stated rather plainly before taking another drag on his cigar. “Cannibals don’t eat the bones; an’ we would’ve found traces of their camps.”

Director Bones took a long drag on his shortening cigar, running his tongue across his lips; not that anyone could tell, before beginning. “You wanna start us off Goodvibes?” He rumbled out smoke and words conjoined.

“Goodfellow.” The ranger corrected a little more insistently, before taking a breath and standing up straight. He straightened his tie a little before clearing his throat. He looked as though he was going to begin, but stopped himself; fetching some papers from the desk the Director was sitting at before starting again. “Alright. Ahem—” he cleared his throat. “Spring nineteen-sixty-five, eighteen people ages fourteen through twenty-two entered the wilderness with the stated goal of ‘creating a naturalist utopia wherein man and nature might coexist peaceably’ they purchased the deed to an old nickel mine with the intention of retrofitting it into something they could live in.”

Bones snickered a little. “Old school hippies.”

“Something like that.” Ranger Goodfellow took a deep breath, straightening up; he was obviously a little uneasy speaking in front of actual superheroes; and a skeleton smoking a cigar. “The Rangers at the time have documentation through that fall; looks like they checked in on the naturalists every so often.” He rifled through the file in his hands. “That all stops the following winter, I guess the rangers at the time felt at the time was that the kids got tired of being cold and went back home.”

“We now know that wasn’t the case.” Bones picked up, taking a drag on the last of his cigar, the little paper audibly cracking under the heat until he stamped the stump out. “Of the eighteen people that went into the woods that year, three of them were seen again. Two brothers, ages twenty-one and nineteen, and one girl, age eighteen. Girl has a death certificate from two years later; slit her wrists in a bathtub. The other two; guy A stopped using his Social number twelve years after; looks like he was going full mountain man down in the Florida bayou. Uncle Sam lost track of him after that.” Bones swept up another file from the desk, leaning back in his chair. “Last one is a homemaker living down in Arizona.”

“We haven’t had anything like that since. Worst we get up here is some pot farmers; occasional hiker gets himself lost in the hills.” The ranger shrugged. “At least until recently.”

“Nine people, all gone missing in the past two weeks. The only connections we can find is that they were all around this area. Three campers, two honeymooners, a family of four all gone poof; can’t find any of the bodies, or any body parts for that matter.” Bones smirked a little, not that anyone could tell, and slipped his cigar case out from his breast pocket. He had five left, and seemed to be debating lighting up another. “Latest to go missing was a pair of honeymooners, apparently they left their cabin door unlocked while they were, havin’ intimate relations.” He smirked a little more, not that anyone could tell; and tapped his cigar case against the arm of his chair. “Found some shreds of their sheets, and some stains; blood among other fluids. No bodies, no body parts.”

Bones decided against lighting up a new cigar, and set his case back in his breast pocket. “Before that was a family of four. Out camping in their RV, thing got split open like a… something-that gets split open.” He was running out of appropriate metaphors. “Cicada carapace, ya’know those big-ass crickets they have in the far east; split open like one o’ those.” Not one of his better metaphors admittedly. “Anyway, same thin’ blood, no bodies no parts.”

He shrugged a bit, leaning forward and climbing out of his chair and onto his feet. “And before that were some campers. Teenagers, three of them. No bodies, no body parts, plenty of blood; a good amount of Y-O-L-O tee shirts, not really sure what that means, but I’m guessing it doesn’t mean ‘eat me please.’” Bones shrugged softly, stepping carefully around the desk, favoring his good foot.

“We have Rangers combing the area for the past couple days, but…” Ranger Goodfellow simply trailed off before adding; “we haven’t found anything…”

(I'm assuiming the ground team made it there by now)

"So," The Flash spoke up, "Ranger Goodguy, how do you know they're still in the forest?" Uncrossing his arms, he got up from leaning against the wall. "I can check the forest like that," he said snapping his finger, "but we can't be too sure if they're not even on this planet. Hell, this dimention!"

"Flash, don't be ridiculous." Aquaman remarked.
"Hey, I'm not some meat head like you think I am. I use to be in forensics science. I'm just saying things aren't adding up."

"Should we just extinguish all possible leads to make sure they're not here then? What do you think Ranger Goodmorning? Keep doing what you're doing? Or try something new?" Green Lantern asked.

“Goodfellow.” The Ranger’s brow twitched slightly.

“We’re assuming they haven’t left this dimension as of yet.” Bones spoke up. “I want two groups. One of ‘em will search the woods for clues; we got experience an’ knowhow what the locals don’t.” The African America skeleton stepped up into Green Lantern. “That ring of yours can detect trace blood, right?” He smirked; not that anyone could tell.

Before turning away from the Lantern and toward the Flash. “Yo, Red. I got a special job for you.” He took a step toward the crimson speedster, the wooden floor creaking beneath him; his false leg creaking a little along with it. “Think you can run down Arizona way, talk to this survivor, one…” He had to check the file. “Fredrick Jones.” He snapped the file close and offered it to the Flash. “Address is in the file; come to think of it, hit Florida too, see if you can’t find the other one… Orville I think his name was. Last knows are in the file too.”