A/N: So I've been writing bits and pieces of this YJ fanfic for a while. I've read some fics where Superboy wasn't the only clone made by Cadmus so I decided to do my own spin on that. In this story Cadmus isn't the only lab used by the Light and Superboy isn't the only clone. I will follow the episodes of season one but it will be slightly AU since I will be adding characters, which will already change certain situations just by existing. I will also follow the five year gap between seasons, put my own spin on what I believe happened and how my characters influenced it, and hopefully I will be able to follow beyond the end of season two.
So this is a big project I'm trying to do and hopefully it can come out as good as I hope for it to be.
I've been watching Justice League Unlimited lately so I'm warning you that I will be adding some of the characters from the show here- like Supergirl and Hawk and Dove- I always thought that the Justice League seemed too small for me when watching YJ and after watching JLU I can't imagine some of those characters not being in the YJ League. They'll all mostly play minor roles, except some of them, I just wanted the League to be bigger and sorta have the dynamic it had in JLU. JLU won't influence this fic that much apart from that, that's why I decided not to make this a crossover.
Anyways this will be a romance, there will be relationships within the League and the Team (more than just Superboy and Miss M, and the little bit of Zatana and Dick that we saw). There will also be relationships between the League and the Team (mentor and familial relations) and I hope to focus on the characters out of the spectrum of Heroes and look into their civilian lives and how the interact with each other there. There will be a couple of OC's- since there are going to be more projects than just Superboy made- if it wasn't obvious. Hopefully this comes out as good as it looks inside my head.
So Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters - they all belong to DC Comics, and Young Justice and Justice League Unlimited belongs to Cartoon Network. I only lay claim to my OC's the Projects (except for Superboy).
So thanks for clicking on this story and I hope you enjoy.
~ Aneriam
I. Dark Paradise
Once they had believed themselves to be normal, or as normal as one could be living in a facility. They had been blissfully unaware of what they were truly being raised in those dark, windowless, rooms for. Their first years they were kept in pods and taught everything by Genomorphs. Never in those first years had they opened their eyes, had they used their lungs, had they stepped out of the pods.
They thought that that was how everyone lived, they thought this was the home that the Genomorphs had taught them about.
At the age of three they were proven wrong.
When they reached three the testing started. For the first time in their lives they were outside the pods, their eyes open, their limbs functioning. They were surrounded by other people, surrounded by objects that before that point were just images in their heads. At first the tests were small, just needles and blood tests. Examinations to see how well their health was. But then it became weights, and fire, and electricity- and in her and her brother's case, Kryptonite- to see how strong they were, how well they could withstand pain.
That's when they learned what their purpose was. That's when they learned that they had been created for one thing only.
They were weapons, Genomorphs. Their names- Projects. And they were created to serve the light.
They realized then that they were never normal and they never would be, they were just disposable creations.
The scientists started training them in their powers and skills until they were five and when they reached five they were considered ready to be put with the others, to train and live together.
(They were an army and they needed to know their fellow soldiers well after all.)
Until that age she had believed herself to be alone in this torture, in this hell. So when she became five and she was taken to a room with other pods, other projects just like her, she felt relieved because she realized she wasn't alone anymore. She was scared though, of course, how would she be treated in this room? Would she have to fight against the others for survival everyday?
Her fears turned to be unfounded. The other projects welcomed her with open arms- not literally of course, they couldn't show affection, they weren't allowed to because they weren't considered human- and they called her sister, not just because the scientist wanted them to call each other that to establish a sense of loyalty, but because they meant it.
Kr, GL, and Coral. Those were her older siblings. They had been together for two years already when she came and they quickly took to taking care of her when the training got too hard or the punishments became too much. They even called her by her name- without the degrading Project added at the beginning- she was called Sol, just Sol.
And it was liberating.
After her came the others. Projects Demigod (Demi for short) and HG were two years after her, Pitch came two after them, and finally the twins and little Knight came one year after Pitch, making their little family complete.
They were lucky, in a way, that Coral could communicate telepathically with all marine life- including those that had evolved from it.
(Humans, apparently, fell into that category and when she first heard her sister's voice in her head that's when she realized that her and her brother Kr had human in them.)
With these powers they learned that they could speak freely to each other. Could give praises and affection without anyone knowing, not the Genomorphs, and especially not the scientists- they didn't know about Coral's ability to speak to humans, she was too smart to give that piece of information up- and that helped them go through the hell that was the facility. Because through their connection they became the family they needed, the family they wanted.
So they braved through the tortures of the facility- the sleeping in pods while Genomorphs instructed them, the training, the punishments- together and hoped everyday that they could finally be set free to see the pictures put into their heads with their own eyes. That they could finally leave the underground walls of Prometheus.
They trained, and they hoped, and they dreamed. Waiting for the day when they could see the sun in a blue sky and feel the wind on their skin. When they could speak to each other out loud and have physical contact with somebody without the need to spar being the only reason.
They waited to be set free from hell, like the demons they were, and finally live, like the humans they wished to be.
Every time I close my eyes, It's like a dark paradise
Sol was sent flying towards the wall, and as she slammed painfully against it she tried to catch her breath. She didn't have time, of course, because she had to move a second after she hit the metal to avoid her brother's fist. She ducked under his hand and swung her leg out to slam it against his side, sending him flying. She jumped away from the wall and panted slightly as she watched Kr pick himself up.
They had been going at it for hours now and although they were built to be almost completely invincible- created to be the strongest things on earth- she was tiring and she knew her brother was too. He leaped at her again and she dodged out of the way, grabbing his arm and bringing her knee up to his chest before swinging him over her head to slam him against the floor.
He immediately swiped her feet out from under her and brought her to the ground beside him. Grabbing a hold of her throat and holding her legs down with his own he slammed her head painfully against the floor before bringing her up and kneeing her in the chest, knocking the breath out of her. Sol grabbed a hold of his hands around her throat and brought him up with her when he threw her into the air, giving him a kick in the jaw just as he kicked her ribs. They went flying to opposite walls.
As the dust cleared she spied the twins in a room to their right, a glass wall separating them, and she watched as they ran around the room. Creating dangerous chemical compounds and disengaging chemical bombs. She smiled slightly at their serious faces and the way they moved efficiently between, and around, each other before refocusing on her brother as he charged at her.
Leaping out of the way of his kick she jumped over his head and ran towards the opposite wall, jumping onto it and turning to give her brother a round house kick to the temple. He ducked and grabbed her foot before it could make contact, swinging her around before he sent her flying again. She groaned as she hit the wall for the hundredth time.
'I'm so going to have bruises by the end of this,' she thought getting back up onto her feet.
'Don't be such a baby your made of steel remember?'
She glared at her brother as she heard his mocking voice in her head.
'Doesn't count against someone who is made of the same strength,' she shot back.
She glanced to her left when she heard a giggle in her head and watched sparks fill the air as her little sister Demi and little brother Knight spared on a raised platform. Their swords clashing against each other every other second.
'Quiet Demi,' Sol admonished lightly as she ducked and sprang out of the way of her brother's fists.
'All of you quiet,' Knight exclaimed annoyed, 'I cannot possibly beat this sorry excuse of a warrior with a bunch of dunderhead's voices in my head.'
'Aw, the little Knight is annoyed,' a voice cooed.
'Shut it Pitch, your opinion was not asked for.'
Pitch's laugh filled their heads.
As Sol spun around to evade a high kick to the jaw she glanced to the raised platform next to Knight and Demi's where her sisters, Coral and Pitch, were also sparring, their feet and fists becoming blurs.
'Relax Knight,' someone drawled, 'I, for one, was getting bored up here, just hearing you guys fighting. This is a good distraction.'
As her brother's kick to her lower back sent her stumbling to the floor Sol spied through the glass ceiling two forms flying the obstacle course above them, her brother GL and sister HG.
'You don't have time for distractions GL,' HG admonished, 'if you don't pay attention you'll get seriously injured.'
'Relax HG, I can fly this thing in my sleep.'
'How about letting us concentrate!' Speed's voice rang out in their heads, 'highly combustible and dangerous chemicals here!'
As she sent Kr stumbling with an uppercut to the chin Sol noticed GL twitch in flight, surprised at the young girls unexpected scream.
'Yeah, we'd like for this place not to go, you know, boom,' Force's voice piped up, cheery and relaxed compared to his twin.
'If this place does explode it will be because of your incompetence Force, not because of distractions,' Knight sneered.
'Well the same could be said for your ability to win your match, Your Highness,' Force shot back joyfully. Unperturbed by Knight's acidic comment, he was used to him, like they all were.
'I have skill unlike you, you pathetic excuse of-'
'Alright,' Coral's calming voice piped up, amusement noticeable, 'why don't we all go back and concentrate on our task, before the instructors realize we're distracted.'
'I've been concentrating on my task,' Sol grunted from within her brother's headlock, 'I don't let myself get distracted, unlike others.'
Kr scoffed, 'sure you don't,' as Demi giggled out, 'you started it!'
'So?', she replied as she jabbed her elbow into her brother's ribs before twisting out of his arms.
She was just about to launch herself at him again when the lights on the training room blared yellow and a voice came on in the intercom.
"Training session has been completed. Projects to their containment chamber immediately."
Sol straightened and shared a look with Kr when scientists and guards came into the room to usher them to their pods.
'Is it me or was this training session cut short?' HG asked as she and the rest came up behind her and Kr.
'It isn't just you,' Kr responded, voice serious and expression stoic as he stared straight ahead, 'it was made shorter.'
'Do you guys have an idea why?' Speed asked.
'Not a clue,' GL responded.
They stayed silent the walk back to the containment chamber and quickly entered their pods without prompting.
Sol glanced at each one of her siblings around the room- their pods all arranged in a semi circle, against the circular walls- as her door was shut closed. Almost immediately she started feeling sleepy, tired. Her limbs, already sore from the training session, became heavy and her eyelids fluttered closed.
She hardly noticed that the sleeping process was deeper this time- they were being forced into their subconsciousness- she was too tired to think logically. She just wanted to close her eyes and rest while the Genomorphs implanted information in her head. Her breathing slowed until she was at the edge of consciousness.
It was then that she heard voices in the chamber as the door opened.
"Is the Project ready for transportation?" she heard through her muddled mind.
What?
She stirred from unconsciousness, realizing that her siblings were doing the same.
"That depends, is the security tight enough in your facility for its safety Desmond?" she heard someone ask, she realized that it was the Head scientist, Dr. Tepper.
"Cadmus has top of the line security, no one will know that the Project is there except those that will run the tests on it." the man named Desmond replied acidly.
"Very well," Dr. Tepper responded after a moment of silence, "Secure Project Kr and ready it for transportation," he called out.
'What!' Sol cried out within her mind.
She tried to rise out of her sleep, move through her muddled brain, but it just seemed to make her more tired, heavier. Her eyelids could hardly twitch, much less flutter open.
'Kr?!' she heard Coral cry out.
'Brother?' the rest exclaimed, trying to move restlessly from their own slumber, but they had the same results as her.
'Calm down,' Kr whispered.
Her mind was getting darker, heavier, she would fall asleep soon and she didn't want that. Coral couldn't connect them when they were forced into their subconscious- especially with the Genomorphs being the ones to do it- who knew what they would do to Kr during that time?
She had to wake up, she couldn't afford to go to sleep, she couldn't let them take her brother away. Never had any of them been separated, she never believed it as a possibility and that it was now happening before her very eyes frightened her.
'It's fine, I'll be fine, calm down,' his voice sounded softer, farther away.
They heard the sound of metal against metal, and whirring machines, and the door sliding open.
'Brother! Brother!' she cried out, she could hear the others echoing her screams.
'It's fine,' he whispered almost inaudibly, 'I'll come back.'
'Brother!'
The door slid closed and she was finally pulled into the dark abyss of her subconscious. She wouldn't resurface until hours later, when Coral was finally awake and strong enough to establish the connection.
But by then their Brother would be long gone.
Every time I close my eyes, It's like a dark paradise