The next morning Kiah woke up to an empty bed. She sat up and grabbed her phone off the bedside table and saw she had ten missed calls. All from Bruce.
"Great." Kiah said rolling off her bed. She slept hard that night. Amazons don't usually get hangovers, perks of being a Demi god, but she was still exhausted.
Kiah walked over to her bathroom and opened the door.
"AHH!" She screamed seeing Loki standing in front of her bathroom mirror rubbing a towel through his wet hair.
"Good morning to you too." He said with a grin.
"I thought you had left." Kiah said.
"Why would I leave? Bored of me already?"
"Not exactly. I am just surprised you stayed."
"Don't be surprised. I am not leaving, especially now."
"Why is that?" Kiah raised her eyebrow then walked over to the sink attempting to grab her toothbrush.
"You know why. But also your bat friend called me asking me to join your little mission. Seems you don't know how to answer your phone." Loki grinned.
"Misson? I did see he called me a few times... but why would he call you? And if it's so urgent why didn't you wake me up!?"
"I assume it's not too urgent because your sister left earlier and told me not to wake you. But bat boy seems to think otherwise."
"Did Arthur leave with her?"
"Nope, Water Thor is still on the couch passed out."
"Water Thor?"
"Makes sense doesn't it?"
The two laughed at that. It did make sense. A little while later Kiah called Bruce. On the first ring he picked up.
"Sorry about all the calls. I thought this situation was more urgent than it is." Bruce said.
"No need to apologize. What is the mission? Loki said you had called him."
"Someone, or something, hacked Victor. But he's back to his normal self. But we need all hands on this. Incase it happens again." Bruce said flatly.
"How did that even happen?" Kiah asked confused. Victor was the ultimate human super machine. He was Cyborg. He was seemingly unhackable. Or at least that's what they thought.
"Unsure as of right now. Come in as soon as you can. And bring Loki. He could help assist us in this one. The more help the better. He is one of our own."
"We will be there soon." Kiah hung up her phone then turned to Loki who was grinning widely while leaning against her bedroom wall. "What?" She asked.
"Oh nothing. Just that your bat friend needs my help. Feels good is all." Loki said walking out of the room. Kiah followed and they both entered the kitchen. Arthur was up making himself some coffee.
"Morning." Arthur said flatly not turning his back from the coffee maker.
"Did you get the call?" Kiah asked him.
"Yep. Here, take some coffee then we head out." Arthur said. He was in a bit of a mood. He wasn't a morning person. But Kiah knew this. Her, Diana, and him often had nights where they stayed up until morning drinking and laughing. And every morning Arthur was in a mood.
At the Hall of Justice the table was full of the team. Victor, Bruce, Diana, Clark, and Barry.
"Welcome. Take a seat we are just going over the plan." Bruce said. "Victor got hacked again while you were on your way over. Turns out our hacker is interested in more than just messing with Victor."
"What do you mean?" Kiah asked taking a seat at the table.
"The hacker searched my databases that have information on all of us. Seems they are attempting to learn all the information they can on who we are." Victor said. There was stress on his face.
"Do we know who it is yet?" Arthur asked.
"No, but I have a suspicion." Alfred said to the group as he walked in holding a tablet. He set it down then took a breath in. "It's an A.I."
"An A.I.?" Kiah said.
"Like Vision." Loki said turning to Kiah.
"Vision... is that the advance being from the other universe you told us about?" Diana asked.
"Yes, but he's more than just what he was made to be. He's a person. I know it's hard to explain but Vision is different." Kiah said defending her friend from a few years ago.
"I do believe this A.I. could potentially reach the capacity of Vision but not yet. I caught a glimpse into their coding when they were mid hack of our friend Victor here and I was able to analyze it's makeup. It's man made, potentially harmless... at this stage of it's existence. It seems to only want to learn. To educate itself. Why it has chosen us I do not yet understand." Alfred said.
"How can we learn more? Could this be a threat? Do we need to worry?" Barry asked looking at all of us nervously.
"As of now I am unsure. The A.I. has been relatively harmless to Victor but we need to keep an eye out. Everyone be on alert. This could change quickly and we need to be ready."
"Thank you Alfred. Alfred and I have set up a temporary living space here for Victor so we can constantly monitor him. That way if the hacker shows their code again, we will be ready. As for everyone else; keep your phones on please. We may need you." bruce got up from the table and he, Alfred, and Victor left the room.
"Could the hacker like hack me too?" Barry asked.
"Really Barry?" Arthur said annoyed.
"Right. Sorry." Barry often said things that made no sense when he was nervous. It was endearing. He was extremely intelligent so it made it all the more hilarious.
The team left the building and went about their usual activities. Except Loki, who followed Kiah and Diana around like a needy dog.
"What is the plan for today ladies!?" Loki said skipping a bit walking behind them through downtown Gotham city.
"Diana and I have to go into work." Kiah said without turning around.
"Museum curators... right. Sounds like cheeky fun. I'm in." Loki said a bit too loud.
"I don't know..." Kiah said.
"He can come. Just DON'T touch anything." Diana said turning to Loki and putting her finger in his face.
"Absolutely." Loki grinned.
The three made it to Kiah and Diana's work and left to go to their separate offices. Loki, right on Kiah's heels. She walked over to her desk and sat down opening her laptop. She started checking emails and then writing things down on a small notepad next to her computer. It was dead silent in the room as Kiah did her morning work routine. Loki was walking around her office. It had white walls, white floor, and white furniture. Book shelves lined two of the walls with interesting and vintage texts of all languages and themes. The other walls had shelves with different ornaments and stones. Loki reached to touch one of the bright green crystals on a shelf when Kiah cut him off "Didn't my sister tell you to keep your hands to yourself?" Kiah said looking over at Loki with an annoyed expression.
"Right. I'll behave. But just this once." Loki then took a seat in a chair opposite of Kiah's desk and signed loudly. "Do you like working here?"
"Yes."
"And why is that?"
"It gives me something to do. And I enjoy it. Something else to have in common with my sister." Kiah said continuing to take her notes.
"You and Diana are very close."
"Of course we are. We are sisters."
"That doesn't mean anything. Thor is my brother and we are not as close as you and Diana."
"Hmm." Kiah got up from her seat and grabbed her notes and walked towards the door of her office. "Come along." She said. Loki got up from his seat and followed Kiah. They walked through the halls until they reached a large lab area with lots of people in lab coats. There were smaller glass rooms within the larger room and Loki could see artifacts of all kinds on tables being studied. Kiah stopped at one of the rooms and opened the door to find Diana wearing gloves picking up various objects and studying them.
"Diana. I received the artifacts list for this week. Short list this time. Shouldn't take long." Kiah placed her notes on the table where Diana stood and took a quick look at it.
"Yes. They are all accounted for here. Go for it. And remember Loki, look don't touch." Diana smiled at them. Loki rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. Kiah placed a pair of gloves on her hands and walked around the room. She picked up what looked like an old chalice of some kind then wrote a number on a small piece of paper and stuck it ontop of a wooden box. She then carefully placed the item into the box and sealed it.
"Take this to viewing. It has been authenticated." Kiah said handing the box to a tall man with a lab coat on. The man nodded then left the room.
"You look good like this. All professional." Loki leaned in and whispered into Kiahs right ear.
"Thank you. I enjoy my work." Kiah said half smiling. The day went on like this unil around six pm when Kiah had finished her list.
"All done. And just in time for dinner." Kiah got up from her seat and grabbed her jacket and purse. "Come on. Dinner with the team tonight. It's Barry's birthday." Kiah grabbed a small box from one of her desk drawers that had a red bow on it and then the two made it out of her office. They headed to the main lobby and saw Diana and Bruce waiting for them.
"Here to escort your favorite ladies Bruce?" Kiah said smiling widely.
"Of course." Bruce said with a small smile. He then looked to Diana and they smiled at each other. Kiah could tell they had feelings for each other, but she doubted they would ever admit it to one another.
At the restaurant Barry, Arthur, Victor, Clark, and Lois were already seated. The four walked up to the table.
"Happy birthday fast man." Kiah said to Barry then handed him the small gift.
"Thanks! I see you brought Loki. The more the merrier." Barry was excited. With everything going on with his father still in prison he was happy to feel like he had a family again. The team had grown close sense their battle of the mother boxes. An hour later they were all chatting about Clark and Lois' wedding plans.
"So. Are we doing band or DJ?" Barry asked Clark who took a long gulp of his wine.
"Probably a DJ. Vic here could give us access to free music all night long." Clark said smirking.
"Yes. But I do require compensation." Victor said smiling. He wore an all black outfit to attempt to hide his true identity. They fortunately got a table in the back. Bruce knew the owner of the restaurant so thankfully nobody bothered them.
"I'll pay you in friendship." Clark said jokingly.
"Ah, the best gift of all!" Barry said cheerily.
"So Barry, how does it feel to be another year older!? You are finally 18!" Arthur said with a belly laugh.
"Very funny!" Barry said throwing a piece of bread at the large Atlantian. The night went on without a hitch. Lucky the hacker didn't attempt to mess with Victor, yet.
"Thank you so much Kiah. This is the best gift." Barry smiled looking down at the gold Rolex Kiah had given him as a birthday gift. It was gold with red accents.
"Your welcome. You deserve it." Kiah smiled. Just then she noticed Loki had been oddly quiet the entire evening.
"You okay? You have barely said a word all night." She asked him.
"I am fine. I am just enjoying not being the center of attention. Which is odd for me. I LOVE attention." Loki said with a wink.
It was time for everyone to say their goodbyes while Victor started talking nonsense.
"You will die." He said. "You don't deserve this world. You ruined it." Victor was just standing outside of the restaurant with the team when his expression turned blank and he started speaking flatly. "It is my time. The time of the end." He said.
"Vic? You alright buddy?" Barry asked Victor then placed his hand on his shoulder. Just then Victor picked up Barry by his throat and threw him to the ground.
"Victor! What the hell man!?" Barry said getting up and rubbing his shoulder that hit the ground hard.
"You ruined it!" Victor yelled then looked to Arthur and charged him.
"Vic, calm down." Arthur said putting his hands up.
"Alfred, what is going on. Is it the hacker again?" Bruce said to his ear piece that nobody noticed he had in all night.
"Get Victor back to the lab NOW!" Alfred said. Victor grabbed Arthur by the collar of his shirt and started hitting him over and over.
"Stop! I don't want to hurt you!" Arthur said trying to block Victor's punches.
"You already have." Victor said landing one more punch then ripping off his black clothing and shooting himself into the sky. And just like that he was gone.
"What was that!?" Loki asked. Bruce turned his head to listen in to Alfred again. He then turned back to the group.
"That, was Ion."