Good Lord… Something is wrong with me. I'm starting a new story AGAIN. Oh well, I blame the plot bunnies. Anyway… I guess the only things I should ask is that you be open to non-same age relationships for teens and be prepared that this will eventually be rated M for trauma and description of said trauma.
Chapter 1: Independence Day Part 1
It was a nice, clear day in Gotham City on Independence Day and several families were enjoying themselves at the park for a picnic. But their happy day was cut short when the sound of a machine shooting followed quickly be screams echoed across the park. Some of the people who were running were hit by a bright, almost white, blue light and were instantly frozen.
The small family, too shocked to even understand what just happened look up a small cliff as it began to freeze to reveal a grown man with deathly pale skin in a body armor and glass helmet with a large gun attached to it, "Enjoying family time?" Mr. Freeze inquired with his raspy voice as he aimed his gun at the family. The family came together, in hopes they could protect each other. Freeze fired his laser and the family didn't even have time to blink before they, too, were frozen. "My family has other plans." He mused.
Freeze slid down from the cliff and aimed his laser at the rest of the fleeing people when a black Batarang suddenly crashed right into his gun, forcing him to stumble in an attempt to regain his balance. "Batman." Freeze realized as he looked towards where the Batarang came from. He then turned around to aim his gun, "I was wondering when…" only to find he was aiming at nothing.
Twin childish giggles echoed in the park eerily, one boy and one girl; Freeze turned his body again in hopes of finding the sources. At the sound of someone dropping, Freeze turned again to find a young teenage boy and girl landing on his helmet with one foot, forcing him to the ground. Once the teens landed the boy threw two red Batarangs at Freeze's helmet, cracking it, and the girl made a hand movement to send medium sized rocks at Freeze in general. "Oh, Boy Wonder and the Little Angel…" he sighed, "The Bat sent you two to drag me out to prison?" Robin stood tall with a cheeky smile while the girl, Seraphic, simply smiled politely in her white and black outfit. "Frankly, I'm underwhelmed." He growled as he stood up again
"Great, but I'm kinda in a hurry." Robin complained while waving his hand expectedly
"Kids…" Freeze smiled, "Always in such a rush." He then aimed his gun at the twins; "I prefer to preserve these moments…forever."
Robin and Serephic glanced at each other, "Um… he's not talking to you." Serephic, very politely, corrected the villain
Eyes widening in realization, Freeze turned around just to see the Batman jump from the same cliff he was on, his cape flaring in the famous shape of a bat as he punched Freeze and broke his helmet in effect.
Elsewhere, on one of Star City's bridges, Icicle landed right in the middle of the street and began to freeze the streets, even building a small glacier behind him. At the sight of the crashing cars, he began to laugh hysterically, raising his disproportionate frozen arms in pride.
Two arrows landed on his glacier followed closely by several more, all of them had a blinker at the end, attracting Icicles attention enough to look at them in confusion. One arrow even landed right in the bigger of his frozen arms. All the arrows suddenly exploded in his face, forcing him to tumble in an attempt to get away from the blast.
Icicle didn't need to guess who shot him and looked to where the perpetrators would be. At the top of the bridge were Green Arrow and his partner, Speedy. "Finally," he stated, "I was wondering what I guy had to do to get a little attention around here." He growled as his arms began to freeze over. With his frozen arms, Icicle began to send out giant icicles to the archers.
"Junior's doing this for attention?" Speedy questioned as he and Green Arrow started shooting the icicles down. They got most, for plenty more were still coming; so the twosome ran off of their spot to the poles of the bridge. "I'm telling you now," Speedy warned, "This little distraction better not interfere." As he and Green arrow easily avoided all the icicles attempts to freeze them.
Icicle, seeing the two coming, created a wall of ice from the ground to stop the two arrows coming his way. The arrows easily broke a hole in the wall, but Icicle was unharmed by the blast. Icicle sent some ice to Speedy but, as he was in the air, Speedy summersaulted and aimed another arrow at the villain. This arrow was meant to just give the frozen teen a good punch. Icicle was thrown to the ground at the force of the arrow and knocked unconscious.
Green Arrow was already on the ground, waiting for both Speedy and Icicle to arrive to him. "Kid had a glass jaw." He joked
"Hilarious." Speedy grunted, "Can we go? Today's the day."
Over in Pearl Harbor, ice had forced. It even froze good portions of the battle ships stationed there. A female villain smiled wickedly as she tried to freeze Aquaman, but the superhero merely dodged the blasts as he approached Killer Frost. Just as he landed closer, she managed to freeze most of his body. His student, Aqualad, landed right in front of his frozen form and began to run towards her as well. Aquaman, making use of his strength, quickly broke out of the ice and ran forward as well, "Don't tell me you're not excited?" he questioned his student, at ease at the situation.
"Right now, my King. I'm more focused on the matter at hand." Aqualad replied as the two heroes ran towards Frost.
Frost, still smiling, fired another ice blast. Aqualad jumped in the air, grabbed hold of his weapons, and made his intent clear. She froze his weapons, but Aqualad landed right in front of her and used his frozen weapons to hit her over the head, knocking her out. The deed done, Aqualad shut off his weapons, his arms no longer glowing, and put them away. Aquaman walked to his student with pride and looked at his student expectedly, "Well?" he asked
"Yes I'm excited," Aqualad replied, "Today's the day."
In Central City, Flash and Kid Flash were already circling around Captain Cold after he left a jewelry store frozen and its items stolen. Frost tried to shoot at the speedsters circling him, but he only hit air. "Stealing ice? Seriously?" Flash asked exacerbated, "Isn't that a bit cliché, even for Captain Cold?"
"Come on!" Kid Flash whined, "We don't have time for this!" he yelled as he reached to put on his goggles and rushed to Captain Cold. Captain Cold, now with an easier target, shot his gun at Kid Flash. Kid managed to dodge the bulk of the shot, but a bit of his shoulder froze. Unflinching, he continued to run, stealing Cold's gun along the way.
Cold, reaction going a bit slow, had no time to react to Flash's sudden punch to knock him out. "Calm down, Kid." Flash sighed
"Oh please!" Kid exclaimed, "You'll chat it up with the cops, bystanders, …Cold even! No. No way!" he ordered with a hand slice, "Today's the day!" he excitedly cried out
Over in Washington, D.C. near the entrance to the Hall of Justice, Robin and Seraphic looked excitedly at the building. "Today's the day." Batman proudly said to his protégés as they smiled back to him. Next to the Bat-trio were Green Arrow and Speedy as well as Aquaman and Aqualad.
"Welcome to the Hall of Justice." Green Arrow began
"Headquarters to the Justice League." Aquaman ended
"Aw man!" Kid's voice called behind them, causing all seven heroes to turn around. Flash and Kid Flash, finally, sped in before them. "I knew we were going to be the last ones…" he whined, Flash looking at him questioningly and Seraphic giggled at his comment, her blue-green eyes sparkling.
As the, finally all together, group of heroes walked to the Hall all kinds of citizens began to take pictures and even talked about all the heroes. "Ready to see the Inner Sanctum?" Green Arrow asked his partner
"Born ready." Speedy replied with a smile
"I'm glad we're all here." Aqualad said happily to his fellow sidekicks
"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid asked Robin, who was closest to him.
"Don't call us 'sidekicks'." Speedy said harshly. To calm him, Seraphic placed a hand on his arm; Speedy glanced down at the girl, giving her a silent thanks. "Not after today." He amended while facing forward.
"Sorry," Kid whispered, "First time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed."
"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Robin wondered. Seraphic merely giggled inwardly as Robin altered modern English to his own pleasure. Their conversation stopped, though, when the entered the hall and saw the enormous statues of all the great heroes that greeted them. "Oh. Maybe's that's why." Robin gasped at the sight.
All the heroes approached the door reading, 'Authorized Personal Only'. The door opened to reveal Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter. "Robin, Seraphic, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, welcome." The Martian said politely, "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our food and stock galley, and of course our library." He finished saying as they entered said library
"Make yourselves at home." Flash said with open arms. Kid, Robin, and Aqualad easily obeyed Flash's suggestion and sat in the comfy sofas. Seraphic and Speedy chose to stand partly because there were no more chairs and partly because they simply didn't feel like sitting.
"Quick debrief to discus the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day." Batman informed the young heroes, "We shouldn't be long." With that said, he faced the scanner used as security check.
"Recognized: Batman, 0-2; Aquaman, 0-6; Flash, 0-4; Green Arrow, 0-8; Martian Manhunter, 0-7; Red Tornado, 1-6." The machine's voice echoed.
"That's it?" Speedy's annoyed voice exclaimed, causing the Justice League members to look at him. "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass."
"It's a first step. You've been granted access few others get." Aquaman calmly replied
Speedy promptly pointed to the citizens taking pictures of them from the outside, "Oh really? Who cares which side of the glass we're on?" he exclaimed
"Roy, you just need to be patient." Green Arrow asked while putting his hand on Speedy's shoulder
"What I need is respect." Roy ground out. He then turned around to the other four teens saying, "They're treating us like kids. Worse, like sidekicks. We deserve better than this." A four looked at each other, then looked at Speedy with confusion in their eyes. "You're kidding right? You're playing their game? Why, because you think they play fair? Today was supposed to be the day, step one in becoming full fledged members of the League."
"Well sure," Kid agreed while looking and Robin, "But I thought step one was a tour of the HQ."
"Except the Hall isn't the League's real HQ." All four teens' eyes widened in shock, "I bet they never told you. It's just a false front for the tourists and a pit stop for catching zeta beams teleporter tubes to the real thing, an orbiting satellite called the Watch Tower."
Once Speedy was done revealing the truth, Green Arrow guiltily looked at Batman. The man in black crossed his arms, expecting an explanation, "I know, I know. But I thought that maybe we can make an exception." He explained with a small smile. Batman just gave a harder glare to him. "Or not." He quickly amended
"You're not helping your cause here, son." Aquaman warned, "Stand down. Or…"
"Or what?" Speedy interrupted, "You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his." He said while looking at Green Arrow, "I thought I was his partner, not anymore." He made his statement final by throwing down his yellow hat. The other sidekicks couldn't say anything as they watched the argument. As he turned around to leave, Speedy looked at his fellow young heroes, "Guess they were right about you four. You're not ready." And he left without saying anything else.
Seraphic was the first to recover, "Speedy! Wait!" she called as she tried to catch up with him.
Batman was going to stop his student, when the computer suddenly turned out. "Superman to Justice League." Superman's voice called, "There's been an explosion at project Cadmus. It's on fire."
The League members walked to face the computer, "I've had my suspicions about Cadmus." Batman thought out loud, "This may present the perfect opportunity to…"
"Zatara to Justice League." Zatara's voice interrupted, "The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Attan to block out the sun. Requesting full League response." He urgently requested
"Superman?" Batman asked expectedly
"It's a small fire. Local authorities have it under control." Superman reported
"Then Cadmus can wait." Batman decided, at that moment Seraphic entered the library looking dejected. "All Leaguers report to Zatara's coordinates, Batman out." He ordered. Robin, Kid, and Aqualad approached the League members with Seraphic close behind. "Stay put." Batman ordered the teens
"What?" Robin exclaimed
"Why?" Seraphic politely questioned
"This is a League mission." Aqualad explained
"You're not trained…" Flash began
"Since when?" Kid Flash interrupted with outrage
"I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team." Flash amended
"There will be other missions, when you're ready." Aquaman assured
"But for now… Stay. Put." Batman ordered, this time with an authoritative glare. With that said, all the League members left the young heroes in the library.
"Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?" Green Arrow asked Martian Manhunter
"Indeed." The Martian agreed as they, too, left the room
Left alone, Robin gave Seraphic an expectant look. She merely gave him a sad smile while shaking her head. After the silent conversation, Kid Flash tsked, "When we're ready? How are ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like…" the paused to find the right words, "Like sidekicks?"
"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me." Aqualad said sadly
"Trust? They don't even trust with the basics!" Kid exclaimed, "They've got a secret HQ IN. SPACE!"
"What else aren't they telling us?" Seraphic wondered aloud
"I have a better question. Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" Robin asked. The other heroes looked to the ground, Seraphic just closed her eyes.
"What is, project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked
Robin thought for a second, "Don't know, but I can find out." He finished with a smile.
Robin began to type on the computer, "Access denied." The computer called
Robin laughed, "Wanna bet?" Robin then began to hack the computer, making the screen show all kinds of folders.
"Whoa." Kid Flash gasped, "How are you doing that?"
"Same system as the Batcave." Seraphic noted with a smile
"Access granted." The computer called, bowing to Robin's prowess
"Alright, project Cadmus. It's a genetics lab here in D.C." Robin read. "That's all there is, but if Batman's suspicious; maybe we should investigate." He suggested with a smile.
"Solve their case before they do." Aqualad noted, "It would be poetic justice." He decided with a smile
"They are all about justice." Seraphic joked
Aqualad sighed, "But they said 'stay put'." He realized
"For the Blocking out the Sun mission, not this!" Robin reasoned
"Wait." Kid interrupted, "Are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going, I'm going." He excitedly stated. With that said, Kid, Robin and Seraphic all looked up to Aqualad with big grins that basically said, 'resistance is futile'.
"Just like that, we're a team on a mission?" Aqualad wondered
"We didn't come for a play date." Robin said with determination. Aqualad could only smirk in response.
At the Cadmus Genetics lab, the officials were working on dealing with the fire, as two scientists remain trapped on the second floor. "Help!" they called, "Get us out!"
"Stay put. We will get you out." The fireman informed them through the megaphone
Unfortunately, an explosion suddenly threw the scientists out of the building. The firemen could only stare in horror as the scientists fell to the ground. Until Kid sped in and grabbed the falling scientists and tossed them onto the roof; sadly, the action gave him little time to get onto the roof so he slipped and was forced to grab onto the window instead.
"It's what's his name? Flash Boy!" the fireman exclaimed
"Kid Flash!" Kid yelled out, "Why is that so hard to remember?" he mumbled to himself
"So smooth." Robin commented as he, Seraphic, and Aqualad caught up
"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad inquired, "We need a plan." He said to…
What he thought was Robin. Instead, a sympathetic Seraphic stood in his place. To help Aqualad find her brother, Seraphic pointed in the direction he ran off to. Robin had already landed on the fire truck and used his grappling gun to reach Kid and help him into the window. "Shall we?" she offered to the Atlantian.
Aqualad and Seraphic ran up to the firemen using the hose, "I need to borrow that." Aqualad stated as he took out his weapons to take the water from the hose and use it as a platform to get to the scientists. Seraphic made a large piece of the earth come up with her as she ascended with Aqualad. "Step aboard, now." Aqualad ordered the scientists. One scientist went with Aqualad, the other with Seraphic. As the two supers were going down, Aqualad and Seraphic left their platforms for the window Robin and Kid went to and lowered the scientists to safety on the ground.
Once inside, Aqualad and Seraphic found Robin and Kid looking through all the paperwork and computer data. "Appreciate the help." Aqualad sarcastically thanked
"You and Ser' handled it." Robin easily replied, "Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"
Seeing that Robin and Kid could handle the paperwork, Aqualad and Seraphic decided to look around. But right when they left the office, they noticed a strange form in the elevator as its doors closed. "There was something in the…" Aqualad started
Kid ran out at the sound, "Elevators should be locked down." He stated
"Robin," Seraphic called to her brother as he ran out of the office too, "This elevator is wrong." She stated as she approached it and examined the structure.
Robin ran next to his sister and immediately ran a scan on different elevator types, "She's right; this is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building." Robin agreed
"Neither does what I saw." Aqualad agreed as he went over to force open the doors. But when he did, his eyes widened at the sight of a seemingly endless pit.
"It would explain why they needed an express elevator at least." Seraphic noted as she looked down
Robin shot his grappling gun at the top of the elevator, took hold of his sister, and the two leaped off and descended down the 'building' via grappling hook. Following the twins lead, Aqualad and Kid quickly follow in their descent. "I'm at the end of my rope." He noted as they stopped in front of a door labeled SL26.
"That hasn't happened in a while." Seraphic stated in surprise
Robin took a firmer hold of his twin and swung the two of them to the door. Seraphic stood closer to the door as Robin lowered himself to the security portion of the elevator. Aqualad and Kid soon joined them in leaning on the ledge. "Bypassing the security…Go!" he ordered.
Aqualad wasted no time in forcing the doors open. What welcomed them was a dark, strange, and enormous lab. "Welcome to Project Cadmus." Seraphic said with a bit of awe in her voice
Planning to scope out the area, Kid ran off using his speed. "Kid, wait!" Aqualad whispers desperately
But he doesn't, he instead skids to a stop at the sight of something moving. Forcing a bad landing, Kid had almost no time to realize enormous creatures were about to crush him but still enough to avoid the large limb closing in on him. As the others caught up to him, they all could only stare at the sight of creatures as large as mammoths walking like apes with much smaller little creatures riding on them.
"No… nothing odd going on here." Aqualad sarcastically states
Once they got over their shock of the creatures, Robin hacked through the security of another door. The heroes were once again, shocked out of their mind. "Ok. I'm officially whelmed." This room was similar to that of a generator, only it's electricity came from countless strange creatures that gave off their own power.
"This is how they hide their massive facility from the world." Kid realizes, "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these…things. Must be what they're bred for."
"Of course." Aqualad realizes, "Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sewing dragons teeth into the earth."
"Then this Cadmus creates new life too." Seraphic realized as she looked at the creatures with sorrow in her eyes
Robin walked over to the computer and hooked up his wristwatch computer to it, "Let's find out why." He declared. After a little research, Robin announced, "They call them…genomorphes. Whoa! Look at the stats of these things. Super strength, telepathy, razor claws…these are living weapons!"
"They're engineering an army." Kid realized with a glare
"But for who?" Seraphic wondered, clearly worried
"Wait, there's something else. Project Kr." Robin tried to go into it, "The file's triple encrypted, I can't…"
But he couldn't continue, another voice ordered, "Don't move!"
A man with a golden helmet and shield with relatively decent body armor stood before them with several human-sized genomorphes. "Wait." He realized, "Robin, Seraphic, Aqualad, Kid Flash?"
"At least he got your name right." Robin joked as he continued to hack the systems
"I know you." Aqualad realized, "Guardian, a hero."
"I do my best." Guardian corrected
"Then what are you doing here?" Kid exclaimed
"I think that's my question kids." Guardian stated, "I'm chief of security. You were trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, figure this out." He calmly assured
"You think the League's going to approve you breeding weapons?" Kid yelled
"Weapons?" Guardian asked, honestly confused. "What are you…" but before he could continue the small genomorph on his shoulder's horns glowed red and he began to act strange, "What have I…" Guardian grabbed his head, "Ugh… my head…" Guardian's expression suddenly became harsh, "Take the down hard! No mercy!"
'That genomorph just tampered with his mind!' Seraphic realized
Robin reacted to the attack and immediately set off a smoke grenade. With its help he used a grappling hook and got him and Seraphic ahead of the group and set off ahead of his twin. Kid and Seraphic quickly tried to deal with the genomorphs as Aqualad combated Guardian. Making use of their abilities they were able to stall enough to run from the threat to where Robin was located as he was breaking through the security.
When Kid saw him, he seethed and ran up to him, "Way to be a team player, Rob!"
"Weren't you right behind me?" Robin asked as he just finished opening the door.
Kid, Seraphic, and Robin quickly entered and looked back to see Aqualad being chased by the genomorphs. Aqualad managed to get through the doors just before they closed in on the genomorphs.
Once calmed down, Aqualad noticed the numbers on the elevator were increasing downward, "We're headed down?" he questioned
"Dude, out is up." Kid stated more than a little annoyed
"Excuse me. Project Kr is down on sub-level 52." Robin explained himself
"This is out of control." Aqualad sighed, "Perhaps… perhaps we should contact the League." He admitted
Robin, Seraphic, nor Kid could bring themselves to answer Aqualad. But then the elevator signaled that the reached their destination. All heroes prepped for an instant fight, only they found themselves in an even stranger red, almost flesh looking, area. Robin and Seraphic gave each other a look and rushed forward to investigate.
"We are already here." Kid admitted in resignation as he too ran off. Aqualad could only sigh in defeat
When Aqualad caught up to the younger heroes, he resignedly asked, "Which way?"
"We're not exactly sure ourselves." Seraphic admitted
"Yeah, bizarre looking hall 1 or bizarre looking hall 2?" Robin complained
Their choice was made when an almost human looking genomorph ordered, "Halt!" and began to attack them using his telepathic abilities. All four heroes immediately ran the other way. Kid Flash ran ahead and nearly crashed into a scientist who was exiting the chamber labled 'Project Kr'. Kid, noticing the door closing and his friends approaching not fast enough, grabbed a tube and forced it in between the doors. "Hurry!" he called. All heroes managed to get through the door and lock out their chasers.
Robin was already dealing with the door, "I disabled the door. We're safe." He stated
"We're trapped." Aqualad corrected
"Guys." Kid's voice called, "You'll want to see this." Seraphic was next to him, but couldn't speak with her hand over her mouth. Pushing one of the buttons on the machinery, Kid managed to turn on the lights. Robin, Seraphic, Kid, and Aqualad could only stare and what lay before them: a young version Superman.