<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/TxRLbsD.jpg)</div><strong>NAME:</strong>Lor Zod<br/>(Optional)<strong>WEARING:</strong>Kryptonian Battle Armor<br/><strong>DAY:</strong>August 26, 2020<br/><strong>TIME:</strong>11:30<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>Secret Sanctuary Meeting Room<br/><strong>CONTENT:</strong>Zod Brought A Cake<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>Open, Vixen, Icon, XIII<br/><hr/><br/><strong>"I do not own the handheld device your kind uses to communicate in that manner."</strong>Zod answered evenly. He could probably find Artemis's number in the Sanctuary's computer, or arrive at it by speaking to her father the Green Arrow. And it would be trivial to acquire a mobile phone with text messaging. But the thought of doing so simply did not occur to Zod. Doing something like that would be adapting to his new surroundings and he was a six hundred pound gorilla deciding to sit wherever the fuck it wants to, not some starchild acclimating and assimilating to a new home.<strong>"But I am . . . grateful . . . for the advice."</strong>The hulking Kryptonian said, although his tone made the sincerity of it dubious. But however sincere he sounded he was in Vixen's debt for it, and he would be ready for her to call it in.<br/><br/>The sound of frustration presaged her sharing information that Zod did not particularly care about but needed to know. A lot of it was not unexpected or entirely new - particularly about Robin. Zod still wanted to cultivate a positive association with the Batman's son, however. There was a common ground Zod saw with Damian - they were both the sons of great men. Learning that Lightning had bailed in the middle of a mission actually saw the left eyebrow of the Kryptonian rise a fraction of an inch. Intellectually Zod was aware of such behaviour, but he had not thought to see it manifest in the young heroes that the Justice League had selected. Someone had gravely misjudged Lightning.<br/><br/>He bristled at being compared to Kara Zor-El, but he had enough self-discipline not to fly off the handle about it.<strong>"Kara Zor-El and Kal-El both lack the pride and discipline of the military caste. Perhaps they have . . . other virtues."</strong><br/><br/>The notion that XIII was a test-tube created Kryptonian was galling. It galled Zod in the same way it galled him that humans had the temerity to use Kryptonite as a weapon or in their crude technology.<strong>"I am able to perceive the genetic code of a creature with the enhanced senses granted to me by the light of a yellow sun."</strong>He answered, but obviously missed the pop culture reference that Vixen made. The Icon entered then, and asked questions that Vixen addressed. As she answered adequately Zod saw no reason to provide an answer of his own.<br/><br/>Zod nodded at the Vixen's approval of the cake. He felt some vicarious pride, although he could claim no credit for its creation.<strong>"Vincenzo assured me that it would be."</strong><br/><br/>He watched as XIII entered the room, perceiving the super-speed advance with senses accelerated to perceive at equal speed. It brought back shameful memories to watch XIII eat the cheesecake. It reminded him of how Waller had broken him with fine foods and delicacies, breaking through his armour of will and discipline with treats where simulated red sun radiation and Kryptonite had failed to undermine Zod's will.<br/><br/>It was why Zod chose MREs.<br/><br/><strong>"It is almost divine, is it not?"</strong>Zod said, best able of everyone in the room to relate to what XIII was experiencing.<strong>"It is called cheesecake."</strong>The enormous Kryptonian looked at XIII, but not really at him. His enhanced senses were reading the strands of DNA that made up the new arrival. As he did, Zod's eyes began to illuminate. Not the telltale red that signified anger in Superman, but a brilliant blue - though the hue was different, the meaning was the same. It was so much worse than Zod had initially been led to believe by Vixen, although he could not blame her. And even though XIII was an abomination in the eyes of Rao, Zod could not in good conscience blame the being who sat nearby. But his general disdain for humanity increased.<br/><br/><strong>"Project CADMUS must be wiped away with the utmost prejudice."</strong>Zod said in a very cold, very determined voice. It was struck him to the core what CADMUS had done in creating XIII. Not only had they violated the genetic code of a Kryptonian - albeit the genes of the hated son of Jor-El -but they had defiled that genetic code by mingling it with that of a mere human.