Noah presses a key to advance through the latest batch of news reports, looking for interesting tidbits that may be relevant to his operations - or the Society's.

"Blue Beetle sighted on the streets of Gotham - new costume, some sort of armor. Hm." That article gets tagged for entry.

"Doctor Light's gang of misfits nearly obliterate Louisiana.. I'd better cross-reference the inventory of that branch of STAR Labs to see what he was really after.. ah, Captain Nazi's become available again." Also tagged.

"Two new breakthroughs from KORD - they've been busy in the last year, along with WayneTech. Most unusual - must look into that." That article is tagged for his personal files.

"And a recent spate of ghostly sightings that seem to terminate roughly around the time of the anomalous satellite readings in Death Valley. Must remember to properly question Faust about that, once he calms down out of his snit." Noah sniffs disdainfully. "It wasn't as if we could've prevented his abduction in any case."

Somewhere, the Calculator sits alone, hands tented in front of his face as he reclines at precisely a ten-degree angle in the comfortable office chair which adjoins his computer bank.

Text flashes by on the computer screen, much more swiftly than a normal person's mind might be able to understand, but the Calculator is not possessed of a normal person's mind. His eyes flick across the screen, absorbing the statistical data, as his mind fixes on his usual preoccupation.

The Calculator likes to win. In a world where men can run at the speed of light, or invoke primordial magic, and some can rearrange moons with a little effort, it's sometimes difficult to compensate.

But the Calculator is a planner. These special advantages - they can be quantified. Catalogued. Analyzed. Negated.

Slade's society was quite the stroke of luck - most helpful to his plans. But the society had a downside - it was exposure. Limited, to be certain, but the heroes would eventually catch on, find some way to strike back.

So the Calculator thinks on the scenarios that might be likely to occur when the whole operation goes south. The heroes they'll send after him. How long it will take them to find him. From whence they will approach. The preparations they will make. One can never predict the future with absolute certainty, of course, but given enough data, the approximation is close. There are patterns to social behavior, just as there are ripples in a pond or lattices in a crystal. And if one's mind is advanced enough.. trained enough.. one can seize upon these patterns and use them to form a kind of precognition.

Somewhere, the Calculator sits alone, and smiles.

His fingers dance busily over one of the keyboards arrayed on the desk before him. A bead of sweat glistens on his forehead, despite the sixty-eight degree climate-controlled room he occupies.

"Ah, Oracle, sweet Oracle.. I'll find you sooner or later, dear. Let's see.. I calculate a 95% probability you are female.. definitely American or Canadian by your mannerisms.."

A chime announces the arrival of an instant message, but he ignores it for the moment.

"As long as you've been around doing this, and considering your level of education, you must be over the age of twenty - and no doubt, you graduated with top honors from a computer science program. "

He pauses to consider. "Well, perhaps you're self-taught, or didn't complete the program, but it's a place to start, no?" Entering his search parameters, he sets his computers to work on the problem, correlating and assembling data.

"Seems to be well-trusted by the cape community at large, too - may have to cross-reference with known associates of superheroes.." He grabs a PDA, and jots down a note to that effect.

The flashing taskbar on his rightmost monitor finally catches his eye, and he moves to examine the message.

Tr|xt3r Yo, C@lx, n33d nFo!

Oh, lord. Stupid little punk kid..

Abacus2.0 I really wish you'd type like a normal person, Trickster. And I'm afraid your bank accounts are running a bit low this month, so I won't be able to help you find more gimmicks for the Flash..

Tr|xt3r n0, d00d! n33d |-|@x!

Abacus2.0 What? In English, or you get nothing.

Tr|xt3r okay man! geez. playing city of villains, want to create my likeness. need to unlock hidden costume options.

Abacus2.0 Are you honestly wasting my time to help you customize a costume? You know they frown on duplicating actual superheroes or villains in the game anyway, because of the legal issues..

Tr|xt3r oh? got nothing, huh?

Noah heaves a sigh.

Abacus2.0 Use "/costume_beta 1". When you get banned, don't come crying to me.

Tr|xt3r Thx, d00d!

Noah grits his teeth. Little punk.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yes.. Oracle.."

Grinning, he watches the list of names scroll by on the leftmost screen. Not quite as many as expected - not a bad start.

Let's test the waters, shall we?