Victor Stone had resigned himself to the fact that he was completely alone in the world. He had comrades, but they were completely organic. He had people he'd consider calling 'friend', but they were organic as well. They had secret identities. They...
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The Justice League were gathered around a large table in the Watchtower. They were there to discuss the fate of their newest member, Harper Reid. Known to the public as Hyperion. Cyborg had called for the meeting, but today he seemed a little less certain of his decision. He hadn't spoken to Harper since their journey to one of Raven's many insane pet realms, and honestly he wasn't even sure how to. It was a little difficult to decide on a coarse of action when his every waking thought was consumed by her.
On Harper's side of things, she had decided not to approach Victor due to the likely possibility that he regretted the kiss that they had shared. Instead, she had just waited for him to approach her, either with to discuss the situation or argue about it, but he never did. In fact, he had been actively trying to avoid her. Not that she minded. The extra space that she was receiving now that everyone was ignoring her endured that she got a lot more work done on her mechs.
Harper tapped an undisclosed rhythm against the table's wooden surface and dared to glance upward. Every pair of eyes in the vicinity were staring straight back at her; each with their own silent judgements.
"Let's get this over with." Batman grunted, and in that one sentence Harper could already deduct that he was going to vote her off the Justice League. She didn't blame him. He had always been understandably paranoid towards outsiders. "I assume that everyone's read Victor's report."
There was a universal murmur of 'yes', but one man simply kicked his feet on top of the table and shrugged nonchalantly. "Nah, didn't find the time."
Batman's eyes narrowed at Booster Gold. He wasn't surprised, but that didn't make it any less irritating. He was always slowing these proceedings down. "Victor, give him the abridged version."
The cyborg let his gaze linger towards Harper. There was a buzz at the sight of her. One that he hadn't felt since long before the accident. He swiftly looked away again. He couldn't comply with Bruce's request if all of his attention was on Harper. "I was recharging when Harper came to me. She said that she needed my help with containing a technological super virus. The point of origin was somewhere in Amnesty Bay."
Aquaman, who was sitting two seats away from Victor, shifted in his seat uncomfortably at the reminder. He had grown up in Amnesty Bay, and though he hadn't been there at the time, he felt partly responsible for not keeping a closer eye on the activity there. Arthur's mind had been elsewhere for a while now...he was struggling with his post as King of Atlantis and had seriously considered passing the role down to his brother Orm. With that on his mind he had been fairly oblivious to recent events in that small seaside town.
"She said that she needed my help securing the source sever. I...didn't think to do recon first. I just believed her." Victor continued, evidently embarrassed by his own naivety. "When we got there, A.R.G.U.S captured me using a high-powered electromagnet. It was obvious that it was specifically built to incapacitate a life form similar in composition to myself. The magnetic interference and locomotive hinderance reduced me to twenty-two percent operational capacity, but I was still semi-lucid. I could hear Harper talking to Agent Zirrosinski and everything that came afterwards. She had purposely fabricated this threat and led me into a trap."
