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[khajidont]

[This is Jaime's first post to the network as Blue Beetle, and the name displayed on the tablet has changed accordingly. For any hackers out there, it can't be linked back to him as he's not actually using his tablet; he's posting directly from his armour.]

Hey. Blue Beetle here.

I know that after all this, the last thing we're thinking about is the UE's soldiers, but something's been bugging me. Everyone who was on the distraction team with me, you must have noticed the new soldiers, right? They didn't have anything like them on Elmer's world, and I'm pretty sure that war was an all-hands-on-deck sort of deal.

The normal soldiers were really well equipped as it was, but these ones must have been metas. They were stronger, and faster. It was so busy on the field that I don't know whether or not I was seeing ones with different powers or if they all had the same skillset going on, but the ones I noticed could fly and had elemental powers.

And they were small. Like children.

[Which is deeply off-putting.]

I'm not sure what their deal is, but consider this a heads-up for what the UE's got in store, and the kind of technology we might find on them. For some reason, I don't think an army full of tiny meta-soldiers is something they just managed to find one day. If any of you ran into them too, I think it'd be good if we could get some sort of list of how much they can actually do.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Since we don't exactly have space suits around here yet, if there's any maintenance that needs to be done outside the base, let me know. I'm guessing we don't have a whole lot of people who can breathe out there, and my suit's built for space travel.

Comments

[gevurah]

We could siphon their resources and prevent them from further experimentation and cloning.

But we need to put our heads together on this. Our own resources are limited and as long as the Transporter stays online, it's going to get cramped up here. We need to figure out a way to secure this place first before diving head first into the UE.

[khajidont]

[As much as it pains him to say so--]

You're right. We need to make sure that we can survive first. But we can keep gathering intel on this until then.

[gevurah]

We could divide ourselves into several groups, but not without proper recon and training. Even those we gather for supply run need to be efficient to get in and out of places and avoid detection.

[khajidont]

I'm not talking just going back in time and and getting info that way. If we combine everyone who went into the UE base, got kidnapped and worked on the distraction team, that's a lot of info that most of us know nothing about.

[gevurah]

We don't know what to look for. Maybe the Initiative keeps a file of UE personnel or influential engineers from history? Go back in time and sabotage the work.

[khajidont]

It can't hurt to get all the info we can and hand it off to our science people in the first place.

But I'll check there too. The Initiative's database is pretty huge. They must have something.

[gevurah]

Then let's rally our forces. We need to get a move on.

[khajidont]

That's the plan.

[gevurah]

You said you have photos of the meta clones?

[khajidont]

That's right. I'm in the observatory now if you want to see them.

[...whoever you are.]

[gevurah]

[ She hasn't given up her ID to anyone yet!!

She mulls over it for a minute. Is there a point anymore in hiding it among allies like the Blue Beetle? He's a good kid -- who would he tell? ]

Ten minutes.

[khajidont]

Sure. See you then.

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[gevurah]

[ As promised, ten minutes later she enters the observatory without her uniform. She looks tired and a touch paler than normal, but there's no hiding the way her eyes burn with curiosity at the thought of these photos she is about to see. ]

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[khajidont]

[When Kate enters, Jaime's eyes widen in relative surprise - not at the fact that Kate, as dutiful as she's always seemed, would be interested in the photos, but at the fact that she preferred to remain anonymous over the network. He hadn't expected her to be coming here.]

[He rises to his feet and waves her over to where he's been, a place of relative solitude.] Hey. Over here.

[His voice is different now. It's not terribly different, but enough to be distinct, noticeable; he's started running his voice through a technological filter after Tess found him out through the cadence of his voice alone.]

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[gevurah]

[ She immediately takes note of it, but otherwise she's giving him the mental thumbs up for it; in an enclosed space like this, secret identities are going to be a hassle to maintain for the duration.

She approaches him quickly. ]

Does the Initiative know about this?

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[khajidont]

I dunno. I haven't told them, but there were plenty of us around who saw them who could have sent in a report.

[Considering the general trust level between the Transports and the Initiative, however?] They probably don't, though.

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[gevurah]

They need to know.

[ That's all she will say on the matter, waiting for Beetle to reveal these photos for her to inspect. ]

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[khajidont]

They will.

[Without further ado, he raises one hand in the air and the whites of his flat fingertips light up when he summons up the blue tinted projection of the child. He uses the same one that he had shown Raiden previously. It's taken from Jaime's perspective - straight from his lenses - with both he and the clone flying above the chaos below. The clone is lunging towards him, the claw of his hand almost feral though his expression is obscured by his black visor.

For all the aggression he's clearly showing, it's easy to see why Jaime could consider these children aside from their size. Beneath the armour, he's certainly got the body of a child, and his visible mouth looks soft and new.]

Here's one of them.

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[gevurah]

[ Her eyes widen slowly upon close inspection of the body. ]

My god.

[ Whether or not it's a clone, it hasn't fully aged. It's definitely a child from her perspective. ]

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[khajidont]

Yeah. [He touches his fingertips back together with a snap, and the picture disappears.]

I have more pictures, but that's pretty much what they all looked like.

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[gevurah]

[ Her gaze lingers where the picture once appeared before she slowly looks back to Beetle, brows knitted dangerously close together in heavy thought. ]

Their regular soldiers were already genetically enhanced. Nothing like the kids you've described.

They're building a super-super army.

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[khajidont]

An unlimited one too, if they've got the right supplies.

[He looks down at his feet, feeling a familiar dread deep in his gut just thinking about the UE getting their hands on Reach tech. What if they had managed to get their hands on Supergirl when she was here? He jerks his gaze back up to Kate, exhaling slowly.]

They're using us as their gene pool. The stronger the people the Initiative brings in, the stronger the UE might be able to get if we let this stand.

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[gevurah]

[ Kate shakes her head. ]

No, there has to be a limit. Unless they're siphoning resources from other worlds...

[ Then they may as well call it unlimited. ]

I don't know much about cloning, unfortunately.

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[khajidont]

Okay, wrong word, maybe not unlimited, but... there's some mixed knowledge on whether or not the masked soldiers are clones, and there's a lot of them.

[Enough to spread across an entire world, to destroy an entire world. He rubs at the back of his neck.]

I'm going to get the info out to people who do know about cloning, see what they have to say.

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[gevurah]

Do you mind sending a copy of those photos to my tablet? The name's Kate Kane.