I leaned against the side of the transport, my breathing forced into a heavy pattern to mimic exhaustion. Inside the Ring, the Ivo-tech data was being partitioned behind a triple-layer encryption, buried deep under a "junk" file that looked like system feedback from the axle-snapping construct.
I should have seen the swerve coming. The Ring's sensors are the pinnacle of universal surveillance, and my meta-knowledge should have allowed me to predict Professor Ivo's, but something went wrong, and I'd been momentarily sidelined. I was too focused on the scan, a rookie mistake in a veteran's body. It was one I wouldn't make again.
"Aqualad, Superboy, start moving these crates to the Bio-Ship," Robin ordered. He hopped down from the cab of the truck, his wrist-HDU already projecting a localized grid. "I'm running a sweep for any GPS trackers or remote-activation signals. We don't want to bring a Trojan horse back to the Cave."
Robin walked past me, the blue glow of his scanner washing over my boots. My Ring pulsed—a warning. His tech was searching for high-frequency anomalies, exactly what an active data transfer would look like.
"You okay, Vex?" Robin asked without looking up. "I see a heat spike in your area."
"Just the Ring cooling down," I said, sliding my hand into my hoodie pocket. "That axle-construct was dense. It was like trying to hold back a freight train with a fishing line."
"Yeah, well, keep it in the pocket for a minute. If the Ring is venting heat, I don't want it messing with my readings."
I watched him work. He was thorough, but he was looking for League-defined threats—radio pings, cellular bursts, known Ivo frequencies. He wasn't looking for a sentient AI using an alien computing language to hide a stolen blueprint for a power-copying android.
"Ring," I thought. "Status of the Ivo-code."
"Integration 92% complete," the AI whispered directly into my auditory nerve. "Architecture identified as 'Adaptive Heuristic Logic.' Recommendation: This code can be used to improve your own 'Copy' function. Shall I begin a background simulation for a Sharingan-Ring combat synthesis?"
"Do it. But keep the processor load under 2%," I commanded. "I can't afford another thermal spike while the Boy Wonder is standing three feet away."
Suddenly, the air in the clearing grew heavy. It wasn't the wind or a change in weather; it was a static charge that made the hair on my arms stand up. Through the Sharingan's heightened perception, I saw the ambient light around the distribution center shift—a micro-flicker of the spectrum that indicated a massive energy displacement.
I knew that signature. It was a Zeta-beam, but not a League one.
"Robin, get down!" I yelled, reaching out to shove him toward the cover of the truck.
A beam of red energy slammed into the spot where he had been standing, vaporizing the asphalt. A massive, gray-skinned figure with a conical head and blank, orange eyes materialized out of the smoke.
Amazo.
He shouldn't have formed what happened. And now that I think about it, the MONQI's that were supposed to rush us and gather the parts didn't appear either, instead it was human guards. Was it a change to the timeline?
"Scan initiated," the android's synthesized voice echoed. Its eyes swept over the Team. "Analyzing abilities of: Martian Manhunter. Aquaman. Robin. Superboy."
Then, those orange eyes locked onto me.
"Scanning... Unknown variable. Energy signature: Oan/Reach hybrid. Visual anomaly detected in ocular region."
"Don't let it finish the scan!" Aqualad shouted, drawing his water-bearers.
But it was too late. I could feel the invisible sweep of its sensors trying to peel back my layers. If it copied the Ring and the Sharingan, the Team wouldn't be fighting an android—they'd be fighting me at 100% capacity.