Cadmus
July 4, 18:47 EDT
Sirens wailed as a small team of firemen tried to put out the raging fire on the second story of the building. In there, two scientists yelled wildly for help, waving their arms frantically. Suddenly, there was an explosion pushing the scientists out of the window.
"Oh crap," Heatstroke tried to get there on time but a blur of red blasted next to her.
"Don't worry, I got this," Kid flash smirked and raced up the building much to Aqualad's dismay. He zoomed up, easily catching the two men. He placed them on the roof before losing speed and caught himself on a window ledge.
"So smooth," commented Robin.
"You totally got this!" Heatstroke yelled up to her dangling friend.
"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad questioned rhetorically with a hint of annoyance. Heatstroke shrugged at him before unsheathing her sword from her back.
"Let's do this." At her words, the bright orange of the sword began to glow. Like a magnet, the flames flickered and were pulled towards the sword. Until not even a wisp a flame was left, the sword sucked it all in. Heatstroke smiled and waved at the firemen who had watched with wide eyes.
"Where did Robin go?" She suddenly heard Aqualad ask. She turned to see that the small boy had indeed disappeared. A creepy, cackling filled the air which brought their attention up. They caught him just in time, swinging into the window, catching Kid Flash and tossing him in too. The redhead glanced up at the large building and jumped. Fire rocketed under her feet and boosted her jump so she could reach the window and hop through. She landed beside a fallen Kid Flash. A few moments later, Aqualad landed beside her.
"Appreciate the help," she pointed out sarcastically.
"You handled it," Robin retorted, "Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"
"Fine. Find anything?" She asked.
"Not much," he admitted, "Just a few files I'll download for Batman." She nodded and turned. The room was dimly lit since the only source of light was the window. So she lit a fire in her hands to brighten it up. She saw a bulletin board filled with notes, tape, flyers. It was a wild mess and it did nothing to help that there wasn't any information there to help.
"Find anything?" Kid flash questioned. She shook her head.
"Just flyers and meetings. Nothing out of the ordinary." He scoffed.
"Yeah right. That usually just means that there is something out of the ordinary." She couldn't argue with that logic. She was about to go digging again when a light ring reached her ears.
"Did you hear that?" Kid flash glanced at her as she sped past him.
"Hear what?" She didn't have time to answer as she darted out of the room with the speedster on her heels. Rounding one corner, she crashed into Aqualad.
"Ow." She groaned and rubbed her nose.
"There was something in the elevator..." Aqualad trailed off as if she didn't just crash into him.
"That's strange, elevators should be locked down." Commented Robin as he walked up to the elevator, plucked in his minicomputer and hacked furiously.
"This is wrong," he muttered, before looking up at the elevator, "Thought so, this is a high speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building.
"Neither does what I saw," added the Atlantean gravely. He took a step forward, and with a grunt, he forced the metal doors apart. Heatstroke watched with wide eyes and whistled once she saw the drop.
"Damn." That was a long drop. But without a second thought, Robin jumped in as if he was diving into water. Aqualad followed suit. With a gulp, she sky dived of the floor. The wind roared in her ears as adrenaline soared through her, but above all that, she could still hear Robin.
"I'm at the end of my rope." She took that as her queue to stop, so she grabbed her sword and stabbed it into the wall. Slowly but surely, she came to a halt and swung onto the floor Robin and Aqualad were on. Not long after, Kid Flash jumped in but slipped. Heatstroke managed to catch him in time to steady him.
"Thanks," he breathed.
"No problem." They turned to Robin who was once again hacking at the door.
"Bypassing security and..." The short boy trailed off, as he punch in a few more buttons, "There! Go!" Aqualad shoved the doors open and they found themselves in a deserted hallway.
"Welcome to Project Cadmus," mumbled Robin.
"Love the decorations," Heatstroke commented about the plain corridor. It seemed to go on forever, and at this point she was sure it did. Beside her, Kid flash grinned, slipped on his goggles and was off.
"Kid! Wait!" Aqualad called, but it was too late. With a sigh, the girl was about to chase him when the ground shook.
With a yelp, Kid Flash skidded and fell flat on the floor but the red haired girl was too busy noticing the large beast that came crashing down from the floor above as well as the stampede that trailed behind it. Robin and Aqualad watched with equally as shocked expressions.
"No, nothing odd here," Aqualad muttered sarcastically, looking at the large creatures as they stomped down the hall.
"I'm not dreaming right?" For that, Robin pinched her. Hard.
"Okay! Not dreaming," she mumbled. He grinned at her before dashing off in the opposite direction of where the creatures were headed. Heatstroke soon followed after as well as Kid flash who had recovered. Aqualad sighed heavily and proceeded to chase after them. He could never seem to catch a break around them.
"Over here, guys!" Robin shouted. He hacked the door again and with a hiss, it opened.
"You have to teach me this sometime," stated Heatstroke as they entered only to freeze. From the ceiling to the floor, there were pods, each containing a strange alien like creature.
"Oh my god." She breathed their thoughts. "What are these things?"
"Dunno but it explains how they managed to hide it from the world," Kid Flash concluded, "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid!"
"So these are their power sources," she concluded and Robin moved towards the central computer. "They generate their own power with these... Things."
"That's the only explanation." Heatstroke stepped forward to examine it. It was unnerving how lifeless and still they were, they were like display cases. Only for show and to use.
"Even the name is a clue... The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth," Aqualad explained. Heatstroke raised a brow.
"They could do that?"
"And this Cadmus creates life too," added Robin ignoring the girl as he plugged into the computer, "Let's find out why." A silence settled as Robins holo computer popped to life.
"They call them Genomorphs. Whoa! Look at the stats on these things!" Robin exclaimed. Heatstroke would've looked but she wasn't that smart to know what was what.
"Super strength, telepathy, razor claws!" He listed, "These are living weapons!"
"They're engineering an army," Kid flash concluded, "But for who?" The black haired boy glanced at his friend and then back to the screen his brow furrowed, "There's something else... Urgh... The file's triple encrypted. I can't-"
"Don't move!" A stern voice boomed. On instinct, she reached for her sword and turned her head to see a hero dressed in blue and donning a golden helmet with a handful of Genomorphs on his side.
"Wait..." He paused, scanning them carefully. "Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash and Heatstroke?"
"Yeah?" The red haired girl asked meekly, eyeing the man in front of them, who had an army of Genomorphs with super strength and sharp teeth.
"At least he got your name right." Robin smirked as Kid flash scowled down at him.
"I know you," Aqualad furrowed his brow, "You're Guardian, a hero."
"I do my best," the man smiled.
"Then what are you doing here?" Kid flash demanded.
"I'm chief of security," he stated simply. "And you're trespassing, but we can call out the league, figure this out." The girl snorted.
"You really think the league's going to approve of you making living weapons?"
"Weapons?" Guardian frowned in confusion, "What are you..." The small Genomorph perched on his shoulder turned to the man, its horns glowing eerily. The man clutched his head and Heatstroke feared for the worst.
"My head..." His eyes shot open and Heatstroke has never seen someone so angry before, "Take them down, hard! No mercy!"
With a snarl, the Genomorphs shot forward before Robin raced forward, slamming a pellet into the ground. Smoke exploded covering the small area in a thick fog. With her sword in hand, Heatstroke just registered a snarl and the sound of heavy footsteps as she batted one away with the flat of her sword. Like a bowling ball, it shot back towards its friends and hit them over. She barely had time to gloat as even more started to come.
"We need to get out of here!" Aqualad blared over the ruckus. He nodded at Heatstroke and she got the message. With a grunt, she drove her sword into the ground and in the blink of an eye, a wall of fire burst from the ground. With that she rushed into the hallway where her teammates disappeared into, quickly catching up to them at a closed elevator which Robin was furiously hacking. The alarm blared as Kid flash glared at the smaller male.
"Way to be a team player, Rob!" He snarled.
"Weren't you right behind me?" There was the happy ding of the elevator as it pried open. They immediately darted in and the doors closed trapping the Genomorphs outside just before one could lunge at them.
"That was close," she commented.
"Yeah, too close," agreed Robin.
"Hey, Robin? Why are we going down? Out is up!" Exclaimed Kid Flash, frantically waving his arms.
"And Project Kr is down. On sub-level 52." Robin cleverly retorted.
"Yeah, but I want out. I actually have plans on not dying today," Heatstroke added.
"This is out of control..." Stated Aqualad as their voice of reason. "Perhaps... Perhaps, we should call the league." The rest of the ride was silent after that. There was the familiar ding of the elevator as they reach their destination. Heatstroke drew out her sword, preparing for anything that came but thankfully, there was nothing except the creepy hallway. Robin didn't hesitate to run into it.
"Well, we're already here," Kid flash pointed out as he and Heatstroke ran after the Boy wonder. Aqualad sighed and quickly caught up to them in time to see Robin deciding a hallway to pick on.
"Which way?" Aqualad questioned frustratedly.
"Yeah," Robin huffed, "Bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two?"
"Eenie-meenie-minee-mo?" Heatstroke offered.
"Hold!" Someone shouted. Actually, it was more like something. They all had similar expressions of shock when they saw the humanoid Genomorph step out of the shadows. Its horns glowed an eery red as the barrels on the sides began to levitate.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Heatstroke stated. And she was right. Barrels were hurled at them like tennis balls. Aqualad dove to the side while Heatstroke simply slashed through them, her sword absorbing the explosions. Robin spared a glance at them before hurling a series of birdarangs at the creature. Kid flash took off into the opposite hallway with Aqualad on his tail. Heatstroke slashed a barrel that was headed their way before dragging Robin along.
They caught up just in time to see a female scientist on the floor, paper on the floor and fluttering around. The red haired girl would have stopped to help if she wasn't in such a rush. She seemed harmless.
"Hurry!" Kid flash called from a small gap. Quickly, they slipped through the small crack and Aqualad kicked away the tank that was holding the door open and it sealed shut.
"I disabled the door," announced Robin, "We're safe."
"We have very different definitions of 'safe'," the girl pointed out.
"We're trapped," Aqualad corrected them.
"Uhh, guys?" Kid flash hesitantly called out from another room, "You may want to see this." The uncertainty in his voice made the red-haired girl nervous. She watched as the speedster pressed a button and the room lit up showing the inside of the pod that was in the center of the room. Her eyes widened like saucers at what she saw. Beside her, Robin was frozen and Kid flash's mouth dropped. Aqualad was the only one who remained calm.
"Is that...?" She trailed off. But they didn't answer, they didn't need to. She knew who it was in that pod. Superman. Or a younger version of him anyways.
"Big K, little r, the atomic symbol for Krypton!" Kid flash exclaimed in realization, "Clone?"
"Robin, hack," Aqualad ordered. Shaking his head, the black haired boy got to work.
"Oh. Right, right." She stared at the clone for while. He was actually handsome, messy black hair, toned build, the girls at her school would kill to have him.
"Weapon designation; Superboy. A clone forced grown in 16 weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman..."
"Stolen, from Superman," Aqualad corrected. Heatstroke nodded in agreement.
"There's no way the big guy knows about this," stated Kid flash.
"The solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun 24/7," Robin continued.
"And what about them." She pointed to the Genomorphs above his pod.
"Genomorph gnomes, force feeding him and education."
"And guess what else, they're making a slave out of, well, Superman's son," Kid flash concluded.
"That's it, we need to call the League," Aqualad declared and pressed the Atlantean symbol on his belt. There was only static.
"No signal," Robin shook his head.
"We're in to deep. Literally." Heatstroke sighed in frustration and turned her attention to the clone floating peacefully in his pod.
"So Cadmus is building an army out of the worlds heavy hitters," she mused. "Boy if they are, then we're in big trouble." They all sat in an uneasy silence.
"But we can't leave them here. It isn't right," she concluded. Aqualad nodded in agreement.
"Do it," he ordered Robin. His fingers flew across the keyboard and then it stopped. In seconds, the pods hissed. Smoke rolled out from beneath as the glass slid up. On instinct, she reached for the handle of her sword. Despite her earlier words, something in her gut told her something could go wrong and she never doubted that instinct.
And she was right. The wall exploded when Superboy lunged at Aqualad.
"You've got to be kidding me!" She complained as she charged in to help the Atlantean. She leaped at him with her sword blazing on fire, flames swirling to life as she tried to slash him but to her surprise, he easily got the heavy blade single-handedly. Her eyes widened in shock as he easily tossed her away.
"Is this how you thank people for setting you free?" She asked through gritted teeth while rubbing her head. If he understood her, he didn't show it.
"I really don't want to do this!" Announced Robin. He pulled out a small bomb and tossed it into Superboy's face leaving the Kryptonian disorientated which only lasted for a few breath-taking seconds as he roared and charged at the smaller boy. As slippery as a snake, Robin managed to escape his attack by backflipping and acrobatics.
Seeing this as her chance, Heatstroke fired a beam of flames at Superboy.
"Are you an idiot?!" She suddenly heard Kid flash. "He's got Superman's powers! He's fireproof!" She forgot about that.
Superboy lunged at her which she just managed to narrowly dodge. She swung her sword which he jumped back to avoid but not without putting a tear through the 'S' of his shirt. Aqualad intervened by kicking him in the stomach which sent him flying into the pod. Robin jumped into action, tasering the male, but it didn't work as the large boy simply batted Robin away like a fly. Heatstroke leaped at Superboy which turned out to be a fatal idea. He glared at her with maniacal blue eyes and punched her in the stomach sending her across the room.
Her head collided harshly into the wall, her ears and the back of her head ringing as she tried to stand up, but her body wouldn't respond to anything. She groaned as blackness began to cloud her vision but didn't do anything as it finally clouded her vision and everything disappeared into nothingness.