"You're making the face again." Match observed, taking his attention away from his GBA as he saw Sirdar staring at the monitor womb. In the time since Sirdar had settled into life at Titans' Tower, he had successfully been able to collect and reconstruct many of the JLA's old peices of equipment from the destroyed Watchtower and reassembled them at the Tower itself.
"I'm studying." Sirdar stated non-committally as he continued to stare impassively behind his helmet. "And how would you know if I was even doing 'the face'?"
"Body language," Match pointed out. "You're drumming your fingers on your arm. And your posture is completely tensed up. What is it?"
"Perhaps nothing." Sirdar said, checking another screen. "There are days I prefer monitor duty, it affords me an opportunity to take a step back and co-ordinate teams if necessary. Plus, I still need to continue my ongoing research for Nightwing on the remains of that tower we recovered from the North Pole." He reminded the clone, jerking a thumb into the next room where piles of damaged equipment still lay in slightly-categorized piles. "Extracting data has been slow, but I'm at least beginning to map the scope of the changes to space-time thanks to Alexander Luthor's activities. Donna Troy's reports back from New Cronus have been helpful, as well. We've already seen some of the implications. My own genesis, the discovery that maths and magics are intimately connected now on a level akin to siamese twins... the changes to Freddy Freeman... and I can only imagine what new surprises still have yet to be discovered. It could truly take a lifetime, to fully understand the new set of rules we live by. If not more, provided we can avoid any FURTHER crisises for awhile." Sirdar remarked with a note of dry irony.
"I hate that helmet. I can never tell if you're being funny, or pessimistic when you're so close to the Fate Force." Match remarked, scratching his head in confusion.
"Perhaps it's a little of both," Sirdar allowed after a moment's thought. "In either case... you were right. I HAVE been making 'the face' as you charmingly call it. Take a look at the screen. Notice anything overtly unusual about all the activity?"
Match got up and came to look. After a minute, he shook his head. "Seems pretty random to me. Busy, but random."
"Ah. Of course. I forgot the overlay." Taking a lightpen, he began to draw on the tactical map, connecting activity points where Titans and Outsiders had already gone to investigate. "Random on the surface, yes. But taken as a whole, and ignoring the differences in WHEN these events have taken place so far during the day..."
"...you FOUND a pattern." Match realized.
"An incomplete one, but yes. Runes and glyphs, really. It's almost as if someone is using seemingly random acts of violence to 'mark' certain geographic areas." Sirdar admitted.
"But why?" Match wondered.
"Good question. It's almost as if the Titans and Outsiders are being led to these locations, by an unidentified source. I've had Lucas run some projections on possible mystic configurations... and two so far have matched to crime reports within the last five minutes."
"So why don't we just call them back in, tell them something's up?" Match asked.
"Because. Like it or not, their presence at the scenes are making a positive difference for the innocent lives caught in the crossfire. To pull back even KNOWING it's staged, is unacceptable. No, we need to leave the others to the job they're doing. For better or worse."
"But that means WE'RE stuck without backup, while everyone else is chasing their tails!" Match complained.
Sirdar paused, and then placed a hand on Match's shoulder. "We're never without... resources. Lucas, continue monitoring the situation and keep us informed. We're going on a... recruiting mission."
Recruiting mission? Match mouthed in confustion as Sirdar teleported them in a ball of fire.