A group of people waited for Dr. Stone to make a decision: Should we kick them out, or wait a bit longer?
Dr. Stone might not have high emotional intelligence, but he possessed a sharp, quick wit. He figured that since his laboratory wasn't connected to the external internet anyway, and this young woman appeared to be a computer expert fixing his vulnerabilities, only a fool would turn down free help. He remained silent, watching Felicity tinker away.
To demonstrate her side's capabilities, Felicity didn't just bury her head in debugging. She projected the display onto the largest screen available. Every time she found an issue, she pointed it out, explaining what was wrong and how it needed to be corrected. The laboratory interns all held at least a master's degree from prestigious universities; even those not specialized in computer science could understand forty to fifty percent of what she was saying as she broke it down into bite-sized pieces.
Real talent!
"Miss Smoak, would you be interested in working at our laboratory?" Dr. Stone, recognizing quality when he saw it, asked with delight.
Am I crazy? Give up being a Vice President to come here and be a regular researcher?
Felicity smiled with hidden snark. "Aren't we here today to discuss cooperation?"
Only then did Dr. Stone snap back to reality. Right, she's a Vice President leading a team for a partnership. My attempt at poaching was way too unskilled.
True talent was worthy of admiration. Dr. Stone's biggest fear was encountering people who pretended to know things they didn't and gave blind orders. His resistance to the collaboration had already faded significantly compared to the beginning.
"Alright, I'll take you on a tour of the inner laboratory. How many of you are going?"
Felicity pointed to herself, Dr. Hoffman, and Cisco, indicating a total of three people.
Dr. Stone already viewed Felicity in a new light, and since she was the team leader, that was fine. He wasn't familiar with Dr. Hoffman, but they knew of each other; the circle of top-tier scientific researchers in the country was small, and everyone knew everyone else to some extent. He was acceptable. But this Cisco Ramon...
Stone couldn't stop sizing up the unremarkable-looking Cisco. Short, round face, long greasy hair, and distinct Latino features. This guy is a scientific researcher too? He looks more like a member of a Mexican cartel...
Suppressing his displeasure, he led the three into the inner laboratory. The outer area held relatively well-understood technological products, but the items inside were the true core—or rather, things that current technology couldn't decipher.
"What is this? Some kind of stabilizer?"
"A life-wavelength probe? The frequency setting seems similar to humans."
"Is this a highly magnetized rotating core? If the rotating particles are opposite to the kinetic energy direction, that means..."
They hadn't walked far before Cisco couldn't hold it in anymore. Every single item here caught his eye. Originally, Dr. Stone's scowling face had made him afraid to speak, but now he couldn't help himself. He couldn't help exclaiming in excitement at every piece of equipment he passed.
Dr. Stone was shocked. This unremarkable-looking guy is a genius too! You know an expert the moment they make a move. Although Cisco was wrong about many things, the fact that he could identify the potential uses of so many items at a glance proved his attainment in mechanical engineering was truly "extraordinary."
We must cooperate. Cooperate immediately! Dr. Stone thought decisively.
Thea left the entire delegation team in Felicity's hands and ceased worrying about the follow-up.
After a night of modification, Deathstroke finally regained consciousness. Thea's Yellow Ring could monitor his actions at any time, so she naturally received information about his new ability.
This ability suited Deathstroke's combat style perfectly. Slade wasn't a pure martial artist; he fought for money, to complete missions. Although his swordsmanship had few equals in the world, he was never restricted to cold weapons. In the middle of a sword fight, he pulled out a pistol to take a cheap shot more often than not.
The Lantern Ring modification gave him an invisible third arm. His original single-sword-plus-pistol tactic could now evolve into dual-swords-plus-pistol, or perhaps single-sword-plus-pistol with a surprise second gun appearing from nowhere. Deathstroke's combat style was heading down an increasingly bizarre, flexible, and unpredictable path.
Additionally, he had gained the flight ability Slade had famously envied. Although it wasn't fast and consumed a fair bit of stamina, Deathstroke was so happy he could burst. Not knowing Thea could see him, he floated around his room happily for a long time.
Does that guy in yellow really have the means to control me? If I run, can he actually find me?
The moment this thought emerged, the suggestion spell activated. A flood of emotions—guilt, honesty, remorse, self-blame—welled up, and he even recalled the trustworthiness clause of the mercenary code.
The magic power was subtly dismantling his mental defenses. Before long, he automatically felt that working for Thea wasn't wrong at all. The previous thought of running away seemed as if it had never existed.
"What do you need me to do?"
The Yellow Ring had a communication function with Thea. Having decided to pledge loyalty, his tone was still stiff, but that was just his personality, unrelated to the suggestion spell.
Thea had never revealed her true identity to him, nor did she care about his attitude. As long as the work got done, that was enough.
"Two things. One slow, one urgent. The slow one: go to Metropolis and establish a mercenary organization in your name. I need elites—metahumans would be even better. I'll wire you the money later."
Under the influence of the suggestion spell, and hearing that the stingy Slade wouldn't have to spend his own money—and would even handle a large sum of hers—he was very pleased and agreed readily.
"The other is urgent. In the waters near Hawaii, there is a very small island. The natives on the island worship a Shark God named Kamo. I need you to find this island and send me its exact location. Remember, do not leak any information."
Thea's magic power had reached a bottleneck. Simply increasing her mana capacity wouldn't cause a qualitative change. She needed to add new attributes to increase the capacity of her "bucket." Her Light, Dark, Fire, and Wind attributes were insufficient; she needed to add Water and Earth attributes to her magic structure.
Absorbing the attributes of deities to modify her constitution was the most convenient and fastest method. The Isis Amulet provided only pure, non-attributed magic. Her previous main source, Horus, was Wind-attribute, and Ares was Fire-attribute; neither brought significant changes to the nature of her magic.
There were plenty of Water-attribute deities, but most were too powerful; Thea couldn't beat any of them. After repeatedly checking her memories, she finally settled on Kamo, who was still bullying natives in Hawaii.
The Shark God Kamo—King Shark's father—was an Old God. Perhaps only a few villages on an island worshipped Him. He could be considered one of the weakest deities from the Age of Gods. The key point was that this guy was still alive and kicking on Earth, eating a few virgin boys and girls whenever he was bored.
Searching with the Eye of Horus would certainly be fast, but considering the target was, technically, a god—no matter how small—using a divine eye might expose her. It was safer to let Deathstroke scout it out.
In the original timeline, Amanda Waller took Him down with just a dozen agents. Thea knew nothing of this god's specific abilities, but after thinking it over, she figured her combat power had to be stronger than a dozen agents, right? When the time came, she would bring her subordinates, and taking Him down shouldn't be a problem.