The STAR Labs facility was just like any other research facility, I assumed. Not like I had much experience with these types of places, but it was mostly offices, the occasional lab, and storage rooms like the one I had just left.
It was the epitome of normal, save for the lights being off and no one being in the hallways.
Also, I didn't think there was supposed to be this much blood on the walls.
I… kind of understood why the villains had reacted that way.
This was horror movie level stuff.
I'd said it before, but thank God for Volition.
[Rolling Gold Gacha Ticket]
[I - The Magician]
|Elite Item|
Tarot Card - Increase the rarity of an ability, trait, or familiar temporarily for one hour. 360-hour cooldown.
My hand went into my inventory, and out came the shiny tarot card, its surface etched with silver and gold.
I whistled as I looked it over.
Damn… that was freaking amazing.
I mean, there was really only one choice here.
Fortune's Lover was already absurd as hell at the Epic level. How insane would it get if it went up a rank?
Well… time to find out.
A flash of light came from the card as I willed it toward Fortune's Lover.
There was a soft click in the back of my head.
I waited for something absurd to happen.
Then I waited a little longer.
Nothing.
Did it not work? Or did it just need more time?
Maybe I had expected too much. Higher luck didn't mean constant craziness, even if it usually tried its best to prove otherwise.
I shrugged and continued down the hallway toward Amazo.
—
Amanda wanted to pull her hair out.
Task Force X had already botched their cover with the retrieval. She had no doubt the Bat would be smelling those idiots' tracks from a mile away.
That was bad enough on its own, but of course a one-in-a-million calamity just had to happen right now.
"Get that damn thing under control!" Her fist slammed into the desk.
"We can't!" The researcher stared at the computer, panic written across his face. "The meteor impact fried the rocket's controls."
How was everyone so useless?
Damn it. Was she really going to lose Project Doomsday over a goddamn accident? She had invested too much in Cadmus to lose one of the only useful things they had given her.
"You can at least tell me where the damn thing is landing." She pinched the bridge of her nose. If it landed in the middle of nowhere, she could salvage this.
The researcher went pale.
"Current estimates point to it landing in Gotham."
Amanda stared at him.
Fuck.
—
Cassandra ducked beneath the assassin's blade.
She could see the shape of his next move in the tension running down his arm before the strike even came. Her elbow drove into his ribs. Her foot hooked behind his ankle, and she turned with the motion, sending him hard into the floor before his blade could come back up.
A swift kick knocked him out cold.
Cassandra clicked her tongue as two more replaced him, coming at her without a sound.
She stepped between the two blades, caught one wrist, broke the angle, and kicked the second assassin hard enough to send him crashing into a workstation.
Glass shattered.
She looked over and saw Damian locked against three Shadows at once, his sword moving in sharp, angry arcs. Stephanie was holding her own nearby, but barely. She was limping as blood ran down her leg, and another assassin was pressing her with twin knives.
Cassandra dropped another Shadow with a knee to the stomach and a sharp strike to the throat. When another tried to flank her, she turned his momentum against him and drove him face-first into the wall.
She was already moving to help them.
A black blade nearly opened her stomach.
Cassandra twisted back, the edge passing close enough to cut through the front of her suit.
"Have you learned nothing, daughter?" Lady Shiva stepped out of the dark with a scornful look. "You must always remain focused in battle."
Cassandra said nothing as she watched her mother.
Taking down this many Shadows would be difficult, and Damian and Stephanie were already on the back foot. She needed to stall until Bruce or someone else arrived to support them.
"Your correction has been overdue for far too long, Cassandra." Shiva's gaze sharpened. "Now pick up your blade—"
"California girls, we're unforgettable…"
The fighting seemed to freeze for a moment as the song blasted over all of them.
It wasn't just the strange, painfully upbeat music echoing through the lab. Somehow, despite the cheerful lyrics, it sounded almost menacing.
That terrifying feeling rose higher as someone rounded the hallway corner at a sprint.
Cassandra twitched.
The pressure grew stronger for one awful second, and then vanished just as quickly, leaving her confused as Jean Valjean came barreling into view.
The assassins, unfortunately, had kill-first instincts and far less confusion.
Dozens of knives and shuriken flew toward him.
Somehow, impossibly, every single one missed. Some struck each other midair. Others veered wide or buried themselves in walls and equipment as the crime boss continued sprinting straight toward them.
How the hell…?
No. Now was not the time.
The rest of the Shadows were still shivering from whatever fear power he was using, so Cassandra quickly moved toward Damian and Steph.
Her mother looked outright pleased, standing there with a shiver running through her and a savage grin spreading across her face.
"Finally, we meet. And on the day my daughter—"
A metallic snake phased through the wall and smashed Shiva across the hall.
Jean Valjean didn't even spare her mother a glance. He just ducked under the massive metal serpent as the music kept blaring.
"Daisy dukes, bikinis on top, sun-kissed skin…"
The song echoed through the lab as the snake slipped through the storm of weapons like they weren't even there. Blades passed straight through its body, shuriken vanished into rippling metal, and then it lunged.
The first Shadow disappeared into its jaws.
Another was crushed against the wall by a coil of shifting steel.
"What the..." Cassandra could only watch in confusion.
"No time!" Jean shouted as he stopped in front of them. "Come with me if you want to live!"
The three of them simply stared at him, too baffled to answer.
Damian shook his head and scowled.
"Why would we—"
Another gigantic boom shook the facility.
Cassandra turned and saw several villains appear down the hallway.
King Shark sprinted toward them, carrying a woman covered in rats. Several other villains she recognized were firing at something behind them as they backtracked toward the group. Captain Cold brought up the rear, throwing up giant walls of ice as he ran.
Then a roar filled the facility, deep enough to rattle the walls. The walls of ice shattered like glass.
Oh God.
"Go!" Cassandra said hoarsely as she helped Jean lift Stephanie.
What the hell was happening!?
***
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